Bright Shade
by Silent Comfort
Summary: "Curiosity killed the cat." Is something her father and friends would often tell her. But she just had to try everything out. At least they got used to it and helped pull her out of the messes she got herself in. She knew she was lucky to have such good friends, but lady luck could really help out during a mission or two... [OCxGenma]
1. Quiet Summer

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **This fanfic will follow Nara Shizuka and her experiences during the Naruto series. I will try to slot her into the main series when I can but there will be a lot of "new" stuff. And I might just change a thing here or there if I can.**

 **The rating T is mainly for future chapters, and I'll comment on any specific warning when it becomes relevant.**

 **If you spot mistakes, please let me know, English isn't my first language and there are bound to be mistakes somewhere.**

 **Any questions, requests or comments are welcome. So, for now, I hope you enjoy the story! Also, I will create a poll before the next chapter about the pairing for this fic.**

 **Thanks! And enjoy,**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

I will not repeat this every chapter, but just to add it in:

DISCLAIMER: I only own the OC; all the rest isn't mine.

* * *

"Speaking."

 **Jutsus** – I don't know all the names and translations, so I might just write it in English if I do know the proper name I will write the translation in brackets

* * *

Nara Shikaku was considered many things. A lazy genius was a common description, but he was also considered a force to be reckoned with out in the field. He enjoyed his downtime, no doubt, simply laying under the lone tree that stood between his house and the Nara forest. However, he loathed being unable to help.

The end of summer was nearing, and the Third Shinobi war was raging. His comrades were out fighting for their country. He was sitting beside his sleeping wife in her hospital room, a scroll in his hands and his thoughts drifting elsewhere instead of the report he should have been writing.

He had just arrived from a mission when he was informed his wife had gone into labour and that he should go to the hospital to be with her. By the time he arrived his wife had already been asleep, and he had immediately called for the medic for information.

His daughter apparently decided to arrive a month early and thus made him miss her arrival by mere hours. Shikaku pinched the bridge of his nose, Yoshino was going to be pissed that he missed it.

He was pulled out of his musings by a soft knock on the door, Chōza opening it just enough to glance inside.

"Just a minute." Shikaku stood from his seat, rolling up the scroll and placing it on the bedside table. He walked out of the quiet room, shutting the door silently behind him.

"How are they?" Chōza asked as he and Inoichi leaned against the wall opposite of the door.

"Healthy." Shikaku sighed, tilting his head in a gesture to make them follow him. "Yoshino arrived early this morning at the hospital and the babe was born just an hour before we arrived."

"Yoshino will be so annoyed." Inoichi stated gleefully, causing Chōza to snort and Shikaku to let out a grumble.

"To be fair, your little girl was a bit early. I'm sure she won't hold it against you." Chōza pats his shoulder before they stopped in front of a window looking into the hospital's nursery.

There were several empty bassinets reflecting that they were after all still in the middle of a war. The three Jōnin peered into the room, eyes searching for the baby swaddled in a blanket with the Nara symbol.

"Nara Shizuka" Shikaku said pointing her out to the other two, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Akira and Miku will come later this evening to see Yoshino and the baby." Inoichi glanced at his comrade who still gazed at his daughter. "And us three will go get a drink."

"Yoshino- "

"Will have our wives for company. And we need to celebrate you becoming a father before we are sent out on another mission." Inoichi insisted, giving his friend a pat on his shoulder. "Now the Hokage has given you two weeks, but that isn't guaranteed since all Jōnin are on call."

"And Inoichi and I already have a mission lined up in four days. I believe your brother will be going with us as you are on leave." Chōza took a step back from the window as the three turned to walk back to Yoshino's room.

"Until later then." Shikaku waved as his friends left the hospital and continued on his way to his wife's bedside.

Shikaku relaxed into the chair with eyes closed. During war moments of quiet were rare, and moments in which a vision of peace became vivid were even rarer. As he waited for his wife to awaken he indulged himself in imagining his daughter growing up.

* * *

Shizuka was a Nara through and through. With her father's dark hair and brown eyes and nose, the father-daughter duo was often found napping together under the shade of a tree when he was off duty. Like most Naras, she was observant and clever, recognizing patterns from a young age.

Luckily for Shikaku, she was a quiet child who stayed out of trouble. For the most part. Her curiosity often led her into problematic situations, like reaching out to the shadows moving wildly when two Naras were practising and thus getting stuck. At least she was a quick learner and didn't make the same mistake twice, especially not after a scolding from her mother.

Not so fortunately, the quick learning and curiosity gathered a lot of attention that Shikaku did not want on his daughter. He tried to protect her as much as he could from the consequences of war and the scouts searching for little prodigies to train.

Although he did not wish for her to make genin anytime soon, and hopefully not before the end of this war, it did not stop him from getting her a retired Nara clan member to start her on regular lessons as soon as she was old enough. He had only started her on physical training a couple months after she turned six.

He was immensely relieved as the war dwindled down and victory hovered just out of reach. The arrival of her little brother, Shikamaru, brought out a bubblier personality from his daughter, much to the amusement of the rest of the clan.

Despite his daughter having the usual Nara temperament, she had that spark of curiosity that just pushed her to be more active and more dedicated than other kids in the clan. In the end, Shikaku knew he couldn't keep her from entering the academy nor could he keep her from advancing through her classes.

* * *

Shizuka enjoyed the academy. At least the part where she learned new things, but she didn't care for anything else.

She was the type of child that grew bored easily and even though her teachers placed her in more advanced classes whenever possible, she still found herself taking naps in some classes.

She knew her father didn't necessarily want her to graduate early and so she kept her grades high enough to be in the top of her class but not high enough to bring attention to herself.

Not that it worked so well.

From the very first day, her file stated she had above average intelligence and that she was a powerful sensor. Courtesy of her near fainting during the welcoming ceremony for the academy when she was seven.

The overwhelming amount of chakra signatures in the relatively small space was a bit too much for her and had caused her to stumble and clutch her head in pain. Her father had knelt down, a concerned expression on his face, but she could barely concentrate.

Sure, she had walked through the village and often played with children her age and also being constantly surrounded by her clan members. However, the theory stood that the number of strangers present, most of them adults, had brought on the lightheadedness. It had been too much chakra for her to handle at once.

Another thing that she did not particularly enjoy about the academy was the students. The younger kids didn't have the same mentality as she did, and she was often annoyed at some of the questions they asked. While she knew it wasn't their fault, she couldn't help but isolate herself from them.

Meanwhile, the older students often teased her for being so short and frequently called her lazy. Not that she minded that either. Her uncle Daichi often said she'd be perfect for infiltration and recon missions as she was small, quick and quiet.

She supposed it couldn't be helped, and instead turned her solitude into practice. She would observe her comrades, noting everything she could from a distance. Friendships, rivalries, strengths, weaknesses, habits and so on. She figured it would come in handy when she was assigned a team when she graduated.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Jun-sensei tapping on her desk, informing her it was time to go home.

"Sorry, Jun-sensei, I was distracted." She sheepishly tucked a strand that had fallen out from her braid behind her ear.

"It's not like you don't already know the properties of these plants." The woman shook her head and followed her student out the of the classroom. "But I do believe you will be better off paying attention tomorrow when I go over identifying poisons and antidotes."

"I'll be sure to stay awake, Jun-sensei!" She looked up to her teacher with a wide grin before spotting her mother and little brother standing just outside of the academy. "See you tomorrow!"

She quickly ran to her mother and brother and walking with them towards the market, talking animatedly about her day.

While Shizuka did get bored in a class or two, the fact that the graduation exam was just within her grasp gave her the energy she needed to push through those last few months of dull classes.

* * *

Shikaku knew she was bound to graduate early and so a few months later, just two weeks after her birthday, he was not surprised to see a new leaf headband tied securely to her head.

As he had promised her years before, the family went out to dinner at one of the Akimichi barbecue restaurants they often frequented. They ended up inviting Inoichi's and Chōza's families as well for the small celebration.

"To the newest Konoha genin!" The adults chimed, raising their glasses, snorting as the girl blushed tomato red before mumbling a thank you. For the entirety of dinner, the adults talked amongst themselves and the children all asked Shizuka what the graduation test was like.

On the way home, the family walked silently in the cool breezes of autumn. The two youngest Naras a couple of steps ahead of their parents.

"To-san, do you know who my team is? I didn't stay long enough to see who graduated." She looked back, matching her pace to her father's.

"I might. But you'll find out tomorrow." Shikaku smiled at his daughter's narrowed eyes.

"Not even a hint?" Now it was his turn to narrow his eyes. He knew his daughter kept tabs on all her classmates and he wouldn't be surprised if she deduced one or two team members simply based on that information.

"Shikaku…" Yoshino warned as he thought about her request.

"You heard your mother, no hints."

"That isn't what she said." She grumbled, gaining a stern look from her mother and a shrug from her father.

As they got home, the children quickly got ready for bed and the adults walked to their room once sure they were fast asleep.

"So, who are they?" Yoshino asked curiously as she lay down after having changed. Shikaku raised an eyebrow but put the scroll he had been reading aside.

"Team 4: Akiyama Masaru and Hitotose Kaito under Hori Kouta." He chuckled, and his wife snorted.

"They all have season's in their name. Except for their sensei." Yoshino turned to face her husband. "What do you think? Aren't those the boys she complained about for most of last year?"

Shikaku hummed thinking on the choice of teammates for his daughter. Masaru was strong in genjutsu and a decent tracker, while Kaito was better at ninjutsu and taijutsu. Personality wise Masaru was often described as a bully by his daughter and Kaito as a bystander who rarely took initiative. Their sensei was someone he had worked with personally and knew was a master in weapons as well as ninjutsu. Despite his intense expectations, he was actually a rather well-liked Jōnin.

"It's a balanced team." He finally answered. "I don't know what they were thinking putting her with Masaru, they had several disagreements over the years and she often made a point of beating him in spars rather dramatically." Yoshino chuckled and closed her eyes.

"Be ready for her rants to increase. She will, after all, be seeing him more often than she probably did in the academy." Shikaku groaned and his wife chuckled again before turning over and turning off the lights.

Shizuka might have ended up on a team with people she didn't necessarily like, but Shikaku had a feeling that it would just kick-start a friendship to last the ages.

* * *

*Edited: 08/2018*

Thank you to my beta reader: Kaname84 for your help and advice!


	2. Team 4

"Speaking."

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

Shizuka was not amused. She was currently sitting at her usual desk in the academy, her two new teammates also at their usual seats as far away from her as possible. Their new sensei was leaning against the desk at the front, peering at his students as if measuring them up.

Akiyama Masaru was a tall and thin boy with dark blue eyes, tan skin and curly golden-brown hair. An average student in the written part, decent taijutsu but weak ninjutsu and skilled at genjutsu. Popular amongst his peers, but had the reputation of a bully towards any student he deemed 'weaker'.

Hitotose Kaito was just slightly shorter than Masaru but was visibly stronger due to his preference for taijutsu and ninjutsu. He had straight light brown hair and honey coloured eyes. Average across all practical aspects, but the worst chakra control between the three of them. He was shy and rarely spoke up about anything in class unless directly asked.

She turned her attention to Hori Kouta, a tall man with broad shoulders, black hair and dark eyes. He had a scar through his right eyebrow and another running from his upper lip to his left cheekbone. He wore the standard Jōnin outfit and carried a katana strapped to his back.

"How about we introduce ourselves?" Kouta spoke as he moved to sit on the desk. "My name is Hori Kouta, I'm a weapons master but for long range, I lean towards ninjutsu. My hobbies are meeting with my friends and those books full of puzzles. I dislike threats to my comrades and needless fighting."

He paused sending a pointed look at them before calling her to join the others in the first row, then to Masaru who sat closest to him, indicating for him to go next.

"I'm Akiyama Masaru, my best grades are in genjutsu, I like friendly competition and training. I dislike annoying and lazy kids and people who put themselves above others."

Kouta nodded and turned to Shizuka as she made herself comfortable next to Kaito.

"I'm Nara Shizuka, my strengths are ninjutsu and strategy. I enjoy naps and proving people wrong. I dislike bullies and feeling bored."

She could feel the glare Masaru sent her way but ignored it and turned to pay attention to Kaito who awkwardly shifted in his seat between the two.

"I'm Hitotose Kaito, my best area is taijutsu and ninjutsu. I like reading and dislike being underestimated."

Shizuka raised her eyebrows at the last part. He was always the quiet type and being an average student all around made him fade into the background of the class. The reasons for him being underestimated were obvious, but for that to be the one thing he decided to mention as his dislike was oddly surprising.

Their sensei hummed and clapped his hand, bringing the attention back to himself.

"Let us go to the training grounds. We are going to do a little exercise." He stood and walked to the door holding it open for his little genin to move out of the room.

He led his team to training ground ten which was a flat piece of land surrounded by some boulders and trees. They stopped next to the two smallest boulders located on one of the corners of the grounds.

"I will give you different scenarios for this team and you will have to act accordingly. Simple as that, got it?" After getting nods from the three he continued. "On an acquisition mission, you are returning home at a fast pace in fear of being pursued after you have already been confronted. One of you is injured, the other is low on chakra and the third only has minor wounds. What do you do?"

"Which one of us is in each condition?" Masaru questioned, eyeing his two companions out of the corner of his eye.

"You decide." Kouta shrugged, gesturing for them to start talking.

"The most likely scenario is that the close-range fighter got injured so either Kaito or I." Shizuka glanced at the two who nodded for her to continue. "Low on chakra could either be Masaru or the other one of us since genjutsu does use up quite a bit of chakra. But he could also be the one with minor wounds if he kept long distance only."

"I think she is the one without injuries and I'll be low on chakra, meaning you would be the one that is fine." Masaru turned to Kaito who again remained silent. "So, either the person in the best condition stays to delay the enemy while the other two escape or the injured stays to distract while the other two run."

"That would be a bad idea…" The Nara shook her head, receiving another glare from Masaru, who opened his mouth to argue his point but was interrupted by Kaito.

"She's right, the injured staying behind could mean capture and thus torture causing more damage to the village." Kaito turned to Shizuka who nodded to confirm that is what she had thought. "And leaving a teammate behind isn't ideal in any situation."

Kouta remained silent watching as his students debated the scenario. It was admittedly a terrible scenario to give them right off the bat, but it would provide him with the information he needed on how to proceed with this team.

"Sensei, this is a terrible scenario," Shizuka called from where the three Genin sat, he nodded his head waiting to see if she would elaborate. "In real life, we don't choose who is injured, each combination would lead to different strategies. You said this was simple, so why don't you tell us all the conditions?"

"Alright." He crossed his arms and gestured to each student as he spoke. "Masaru, you're fine. Kaito, you're low on chakra. Shizuka, you're injured."

Shizuka nodded and leaned back on her hands with her eyes closed, ignoring Masaru's grumbles. Masaru repeats the same options from before and Kaito continues to argue against each. After a couple of minutes, they are interrupted by Shizuka speaking.

"Kaito runs ahead and sets a trap, Masaru provides a distraction with a genjutsu. I'm only there for the backup so I stay hidden. As soon as its up, we run to Kaito and regroup. We run again hopefully with the tail slightly further behind. Then-"

"Wait. Say the first stage works. The tail is now a half a day behind you, and you are all about two days from the border. You stop and rest for an hour. You bandage your wound, a stab wound to the leg."

"Ah, more specifics." Shizuka drawls, before turning to her teammates. "Who is better at setting traps? And which one of you is fastest?"

"So, we're going with my plan?" Masaru smirked.

"That is not what I said." Shizuka deadpanned before turning to Kaito.

"He's probably better at traps but last time we had a run I was faster."

"Alright, first we need to either get closer to the village than the enemy is to us or eliminate the enemy ourselves." Shizuka turned to their sensei again who simply shrugged.

"Backup is the option that would least likely lead to someone dying and also ensures the info gets back to the village." Kaito surmised before turning to the only girl who had resumed her earlier position. "You were thinking about one of us setting traps, and for me to run, you staying as the backup again."

"The enemies will not fall for the same strategy twice, and you are too far from the village for that to work." Kouta warned. He watched as Masaru crossed his arms and looked at his two teammates and Kaito looked between the two Genin, mapping them out in his head.

"Shizuka, how adept are you with your clan's techniques?" Kaito's question drew all team members' attention to the Nara.

"I can hold the shadow bind for an hour if I don't get distracted, but it depends on the number of enemies, distance, enemies' strength and size."

"You have five enemies in pursuit, all are Jōnin level. And you have a bit more than half your usual chakra." Kouta supplied.

"Splitting them up is the best way to get rid of them. Take one or two out with a trap, get one stuck in her shadows and kill him off. That would leave one or two who might not want to be outnumbered and turn back." Masaru suggested.

"I agree that splitting them up is ideal, but an injured leg would make it hard for me to kill anyone. I should be setting a trap, but I'm only decent at them." Shizuka shook her head and turned to Masaru.

"We'd need to split them to a group of two and three." Kaito suggested, "You and Masaru with the genjutsu and shadows could cause some confusion, leaving two or three in my pursuit."

"Time for more information." Kouta interrupted again. "Genjutsu and shadow combination are a good idea, while your opponents are distracted you bind them with the shadows. This allows Masaru the opportunity to quickly eliminate two opponents. Shizuka and Masaru are both low on chakra."

"We follow the rest and we now have them circled, what's the distance status?" Masaru leaned forward, slightly more engaged in the little activity.

"Kaito is about half of a day away, enemies are less than half a day away from him and you two are a quarter day behind the enemies."

"I start setting traps, it will bring the enemy closer to me, but also allows you to catch up to them." Kaito suggests hesitantly.

"Why don't you just go ahead?" Masaru frowns uncrossing his arms to pick at the grass.

"He's been running for a while with short breaks, they might catch up anyways. Also, the more time they are focused on him won't cause them to turn back and confront us, who are further away from backup." Shizuka answers, opening her eyes again and nodding to Kaito.

"So he sets up some traps as he moves forward. This brings him what six hours from the border, the enemies fall for the first trap and dodge the rest since they won't fall for the same tricks. Now they are about eight hours from Kaito and only three from us?"

The Jōnin nodded and moved to sit on top of the boulder the Genin were sitting against. The genin continued to throw around ideas for a few more minutes, and Shizuka didn't go into her 'thinking pose' as her teammates had silently dubbed.

"Kaito can send a clone with the information and prepare for a final confrontation, we catch up while Kaito starts the fight, hopefully stalling and the three of us can hopefully hold them off until backup comes?" Shizuka groans rubbing her temples, causing her teammates to snort but all three looked up to their sensei waiting for his final say.

"I suppose with a little more elaboration that could work." Kouta laughed as all three Genin slumped over. "I have a couple things to say about this little scenario." He waited as the genin sat up properly. "Masaru, don't count Shizuka out so easily, she might be younger than you, but she graduated early for a reason."

Masaru looked away but nodded, Shizuka simply shrugged and leaned her elbows on her knees.

"Shizuka, don't ignore your teammates. You may be a good strategist, but you must also listen to your teammates. I do realize you opened up more towards the end so there has already been some progress."

Shizuka nodded in acceptance to his criticism and he turned to Kaito next.

"Kaito, you have good and reasonable ideas, for the same reason Shizuka should listen more you need to speak up more." He then sent a smile to his team who hesitantly smiled back. "Now, next scenario…"

His students groaned and fell back onto the grass causing him to chuckle and shake his head.

"Sensei, these scenarios are as if we are chūnin or Jōnin, right?" Shizuka questioned, as she thought back to the 'mission'.

"What makes you say that?" Masaru asks as he frowned at his teammate.

"Well for one, sensei wasn't involved and two a genin team would rarely go on acquisition missions, much less one where there is a risk of Jōnin going in pursuit."

"Yes, it was a situation for later. You all did well." He smiled at his team and pulled three small sheets of paper from his pocket. He then handed out one to each student. "This is our weekly schedule. If there are to be any changes I will let you know at least the day before."

"Missions in the morning, training in the afternoon I get, but lunch together every Wednesday?" Kaito questioned.

"For teamwork purposes. We will do team building activities during that time as well. You'll see that by the time you all move on from the team, you'll miss each other." Kouta teased them, ruffling Kaito's and Masaru's hair. "Now let's go home. We will gather tomorrow for our first D rank mission, meet at the Hokage tower at eight."

"Hai, Sensei!" The genin stood and the team slowly broke apart as each continued their way home.

* * *

*Edited 08/2018*

Thanks to my beta Kaname84!


	3. Progress

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **The poll is up, and I'm taking more options for the pairing, just in case I missed someone. I do have ideas for each of the characters listed already and just wanted to know what you all think.**

 **Thanks! And enjoy,**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 3 – Progress**

Shizuka slowly opened her eyes, turning towards her alarm, noticing that she woke up five minutes before it was supposed to ring. Groaning and burrowing further into her blankets waiting for the inevitable blaring of her alarm.

It had been six months since their first meeting her team had just started taking the occasional C rank missions. Kouta-sensei had also upped the ante in training, giving each of them different exercises to do in their own time to improve their individual strengths and improve their weak points.

When her alarm rang she slowly rose and turned it off, proceeding to do her morning stretches and getting dressed in her usual attire. Her black knee-length shorts with kunai pouch strapped to her left leg over some bandages. A mesh long-sleeved shirt under a light grey jacket with the Nara clan symbol on the black that had a small collar and zip that goes to the middle of her sternum.

She stopped in front of the mirror on her wall and quickly braided her hair down her back, the end of her braid ending just between her shoulder blades. She pulled on her fingerless gloves and walked towards the kitchen.

"To-san, ka-san! I'm heading out to meet my team. Have a good day!" Shizuka popped into the kitchen while tying her headband over the braid and grabbing an apple from the table.

"Have a good day, darling." Yoshino smiled as her daughter darted out to pull on her black sandals.

"Don't forget we are due a training for a new jutsu!" Shikaku called to his daughter, who popped her head back into the kitchen to send a broad smile his way.

"I could never forget a training session with you, to-san! See you!"

Shikaku and Yoshino watched fondly as she rushed down the path and out of the clan compound, waving to the rare member that was awake so early.

* * *

"You're almost late." Masaru grumbled as his female teammate stopped next to him and Kaito.

"Almost being the keyword." She rolled her eyes and the trio made their way inside the Hokage tower only to find their sensei waiting for them outside the Hokage's office.

"Just in time!" Kouta-sensei smiled knocking on the door and waiting for permission to enter. "Hokage-sama, we're here to receive a mission."

"Kouta-san, yes, I have a C Rank lined up for your team. It's outside the village, a shepherd is worried about wild animals killing his sheep and requested a team to help."

Kouta-sensei reached for the scroll and gave it a brief once over before bowing to the Hokage and turning to his team.

"The village is only a couple hours away on a run. We leave in an hour, pack for a week, but be prepared to spend a little more than that just in case." Kouta-sensei led the genin out once they were dismissed.

Within the hour all four were leaving the village on a run.

"We'll run there this time seeing as we only recently started walking on trees, but next time do expect to go jumping from tree to tree." He heard the chorus of mumbled agreement and proceeded to guide them towards the small rural settlement for their mission.

They took only a few breaks and arrived just as the sun had set, proceeding to head over to the shepherd's house who thanked them for coming so quickly and where they were allowed to stay for the duration of their mission.

* * *

The next morning the team had a brief conversation with the client before heading out to the pastures where they found the herd.

"It's been two days since the last sheep went missing." Kaito quickly counted over the sheep to make sure none had gone missing in the night.

"Spread out, see if you can find any signs, there has been no rain, so we might just be able to find something." Kouta-sensei walked over to the fence beside the forest and began doing the perimeter.

The three genin spread about kneeling down every now and then to inspect tracks on the floor. After several minutes of silence, Masaru called out for their attention.

"I found some tracks!" The others quickly gathered around him as he pointed small indents into a muddy patch with prints of a rather large animal.

"Well spotted, Masaru." Their sensei knelt and inspected the print. "Mountain lion, I'd guess."

"Why would a mountain lion come this far south? They usually stay along the northern borders." Kaito questioned as the group slowly moved to the fence on the side of the forest, now looking for a way the animal was getting in.

"Animals leave their territory to expand, hunt when their territory is low on food and to escape other predators." Shizuka listed, before continuing. "Except this is human land so the mountain lion isn't expanding, and so it must be for the food, however, the predator possibility is still an option."

"The fence is intact, it's not impossible to think the mountain lion is able to jump over it. Even while carrying a sheep it could climb a tree, jumping over this wouldn't have been too hard." The shinobi moved deeper into the forest following the tracks.

"Why would you think a predator occupied its former territory?" Masaru questioned quietly as they moved through the forest.

"We are as Kaito mentioned far from where we would usually see a mountain lion. It wouldn't have come so far even if searching for food."

"So, you think it was driven out," Kouta-sensei concluded, looking back to his student who nodded. "We won't discard the possibility yet. While our mission is the shepherd herd's mountain lions are under protection as they are endangered, we'll need to capture it alive and then we figure out what to do with it."

The team continued moving until they reached a clearing where Kouta-sensei pulled out ration bars passing them around.

"Might as well get you lot acquainted with these." He opened his and took a bite completely used to the bland taste. "Useful little things on long terms especially when on the run. I won't make this a regular occurrence, but I think we might just take the opportunity to set up traps and continue on our little tracking mission."

For the rest of the evening, the Jōnin proceeded to explain more complex traps than the standard academy ones and the subtler details to look out for when tracking. They returned to the shepherd's house just in time for dinner. While the genin washed and dried the dishes their sensei filled in the shepherd and his wife on what they were doing.

The trap closest to the pasture had gone off during the night, and likely spooked the mountain lion away for the night but didn't capture or kill it. They decided to stay on watch just in case, but the night remained quiet.

Team 4 was once again tracking the mountain lion the next morning after repairing the trap that had been set off. After an hour walking deeper into the forest, Shizuka suddenly stumbled causing her teammates to glance back at her.

"Shinobi four miles North." She stated blandly. After receiving a narrow-eyed look from her sensei and shocked looks from her teammates she sighed. "It's not like you didn't know I was a sensory type, sensei."

"That is a large range and I'd appreciate if you could elaborate on the situation."

"My father and I have been practicing ever since our first mission outside of the village. We figured it's a useful skill." She shrugged before returning to her first statement. "They aren't moving much, so I assume it's a base, not many shinobi, maybe five or six."

"Well, at least we know what brought the mountain lion this far south." Masaru replied dryly. "You reckon its anything legal, sensei?"

"I can't say. I'll need to contact the Hokage about this." He signed and pulled out a scroll, quickly scribbling a note to the Hokage. _**"Kuchiyose no Jutsu."**_ _(Summoning Jutsu)_

A small brown colored squirrel popped in front of the group.

"Arata, I need you to deliver this to the Hokage and if you could bring back an answer please." He gave the furry creature the scroll who nodded and turned to the three genin who smiled broadly at him. His nose twitched in amusement before he darted off with the message.

"He's so cute!" Shizuka giggled, causing the men to chuckle at the rare display from their teammate.

"We need to handle the mountain lion and until we hear from the Hokage we'll stay here. The trail is leading to the rocks, so no more tracking footprints. Masaru you're with me, Kaito and Shizuka you stay together. Don't go too far from us, Shizuka warn us if you sense anything." He unsealed some radios and passed them around and having them set to the same channel.

"Hai-sensei."

The two pair went to different sides of the rocky slope. Kaito and Shizuka kept to the south, Kaito having climbed a little higher in case there were any caves slightly higher. They went on in relative silence, only speaking to answer their sensei.

"We found it! It's on the run heading your way." Masaru called through the radios.

Kaito and Shizuka traced back their steps slowly, keeping an eye out for movements in the forest. Shizuka turned to her teammate when she heard the distinct sound of running. Kaito jumped down and landed just in front of her.

"I'll capture it with shadow bind and you finish it." She whispered as she prepared herself. Seconds after she said it the mountain lion jumped from out of the bushes, skidding to a stop just in front of them. _**"Kage Shibari."**_ _(Shadow bind)._

Her shadow launched forward, latching onto the beast's shadow preventing it from being able to run away as it had obviously been planning to. Before Kaito had the chance to proceed with the plan, their sensei threw a senbon to the beast's neck.

"Well done you two. The tranquillizer should last for a couple hours and in the meantime, I will make it a little cage."

Shizuka straightened up and walked towards her teammates gathered around the feline while their sensei used some earth jutsu to create a cave on the slope. And after having his students drag the beast into the cave he closed it off with thick bars made of solid earth.

"When do we get to learn element ninjutsu?" Kaito questioned as he admired the Jōnin's work.

"Let's get tree running, water walking and your overall chakra control a little higher before trying anything so elaborate." He chuckled at his students' annoyed expressions. "Let us move back to the house. After dinner, we can hunt something down for him." He nodded over to the unconscious beast before leading the way back to the town.


	4. Problems

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Update on the poll for a possible pairing:**

 **Itachi - 42%**

 **Genma - 42%**

 **Kakashi - 16%**

 **I do have ideas for all of these. And although none of them** have **appeared so far, they start showing up for small scenes at first around chapter 6/7.**

 **Thank you!**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 4 – Problems**

The next morning, they woke up to three Chūnin knocking on their door with a small brown squirrel on one of their shoulders.

Kamizuki Izumo, Kotetsu Hagane and Hyūga Tokuma were the trio assigned to the B rank mission of figuring out what that little hideout was all about.

"I need you three to check on the cat, feed it and give it water. I left a little indent on the ground for you to fill it as a bowl." He passed them the radios from the day before.

"Hai, sensei." The three took that as a dismissal moved quickly to fill two buckets of water for the big cat. Leaving the adults to deal with the more serious mission.

Once the genin had cleared out the chūnin turned to the jōnin proceeded towards the hideout. They stopped at the same place the girl had taken notice of the chakra signatures, signalling the Hyūga to do his thing.

" **Byakugan."** Tokuma stared ahead for a few seconds before relaying what he saw. "You were right, there are traces of genjutsu, I'm impressed you even noticed it," Kouta grunted in acknowledgement waiting for him to continue. "Only five decently powered shinobi, I'd say high chūnin or jōnin."

"What exactly is your mission?" The jōnin questioned as he fumbled with his radio to check into his students.

"We'll keep an eye for a couple hours, before formulating a plan. We are to gather information but have the clearance to attack if necessary."

"Alright." Kouta turned the radio on. "Team, report." He waited patiently for his team to mumble their status, the other adults holding in snickers at the sound of the seemingly pissed off mountain lion.

"Eh, sensei, couldn't you have given us one of those senbon? We had to shadow bind the sour puss to get the food through the bars and give it water." Masaru complained

"And how long did it take you to think about restricting it?" He heard sheepish grumbles and complains about almost getting their hands bitten off. "Alright make your way back to the town. Ask the shepherd and his wife if there is anything you can do around there, I'll be on watch with the others. Check in with me in two hours."

He turned off his microphone but left the audio on in case they needed to talk to him and then settled on a branch to wait until their next move.

Little over an hour later he was startled out of a quiet conversation with Izumo by the panicked voice of his female student.

"We've got a problem. Two high-level shinobi in the little market in town. They are facing away so we can't see from which village, but they seem to be searching for something."

"And we don't think it's for fresh veggies." Masaru chimed in. "We are in a bakery just across from where they are."

"Do not leave the store." He stood and turned to the chūnin, Izumo stood with him. "Izumo and I are heading over now."

The two quickly made their way to town, slowing to a leisurely walk once on the market street. They immediately caught sight of two shinobi from Iwa walking into a small bar. They continued walking down the street to find the three genin with the shepherd's wife their arms full of food and fresh bread.

"Let's get you all back, to the house." They ushered them quickly down the shop and in the same direction they had just come from.

As luck would have it just as they walked past the bar, the two-shinobi walked out easily spotting the Konoha shinobi. It wouldn't be a surprise if they were called out, Kouta thought, but they managed to avoid that and brought the genin back into the house.

"Why are Iwa shinobi relatively far from their border? Does it have anything to do with the hideout?" As soon as they had closed the door Shizuka had turned on her sensei, who simply raised a hand to halt her questioning.

"I don't know, but it is too coincidental to dismiss the possibility."

"Those two were high-level jōnin." Izumo sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Which means there are seven shinobi in the area."

"We should return to the other two. Do not leave the house, keep on your radios."

The two adults left once again to re-join the last two chūnin, who had just noticed the arrival of two more shinobi into the hideout.

"So, we know they are from Iwa, at least two are high-level jōnin." Kouta sighed, turning to the other three. "As for the reason we can only guess at, but that it is likely in search of something."

They devised a rotation for watch between and requested the genin to do the same in the house. And once again settled in for the waiting game.

* * *

It was just around lunchtime and the sun had risen to its highest point when things started going downhill. First Masaru and Kaito were sent to water and feed the mountain lion, this time equipped with a senbon and a tranquillizer. By the time they realised the cat had been stabbed through the bars, they were already surrounded.

Shizuka had been tasked with keeping an eye on two other shinobi that had popped into town. As a sensor, she had the advantage of knowing how to conceal her signature enough to make her seem like a civilian. And without her ninja attire, no one would question otherwise.

Except when she felt the shift from her teammates' chakra, so did one of the other shinobi who immediately locked eyes onto her as she walked in the direction of her teammates.

"Sensei we have a problem. Masaru and Kaito are in trouble, chakra signature going crazy near the cat's cage." She quickly ran through the house pulling on her radio and kunai pouch, not bothering with the rest of her usual outfit. "Oh, and I may have blown my cover and got myself two tails."

"Shit. Shizuka I need you to tell me if you can sense Masaru or Kaito's signature." Kouta quickly gestured for Izumo and left the other two chūnin to keep watch on the hideout that had again been reduced to five shinobi.

"Sensei I don't know how- "

"But you do. Its subconscious for you, when you feel too many new signatures you get headaches, but if introduced slowly you get used to them. It's probably why you could feel their signatures flare from such a distance." He paused allowing his student a moment, sparing a glance at Izumo who simply looked ahead as they jumped between trees. "Concentrate, Shizuka."

"Their signatures are moving towards the sheep, they are going for the traps we set up." She sighed, "While a good idea the ones in pursuit are likely jōnin or high chūnin. And also, it means we'll be surrounded."

"Your tails what do you say?" He approached the cat's cage cautiously exhaling at the dead beast, before moving to follow his genin.

"Chūnin. Nothing too interesting. I think one is a sensor, probably how they spotted me so quickly."

Mentally reciting all the curse words, he knew he sped up only to hear some traps going off. It only took a few minutes for them to catch up to his three students and their four attackers.

"Well, well, what are little genin like you doing outside your village?" One of the shinobi that had been in pursuit of the boys spoke up.

"I could ask the same from you and why you are out of your country." Shizuka deadpanned moving to stand with her teammates.

"Looks like their backup arrived." An Iwa chūnin spoke from behind Shizuka.

Izumo and he jumped out of the trees to land on either side of the genin. Izumo facing the two chūnin to the northeast while he faced west and the two probably-jōnin.

"The little girl is talented, I didn't even notice she was a shinobi until she lost concentration." The chūnin spoke again, shifting his stance causing all other shinobi to shift accordingly.

However, the first Iwa shinobi to have spoken was the first to attack, heading straight for Kouta, probably to engage the biggest threat and leaving the others vulnerable. When he was a mere meter away he stumbled, he didn't need to glance down to see his student forming the hand sign for the shadow bind technique but he took advantage of the slow in the shinobi's momentum to trap him in an earth cage, allowing his student to let go of the shadows and giving him time to stab his katana through the Iwa jōnin.

"Shizuka, careful with the shadows. That was well played, but the Iwa shinobi are unlikely to have forgotten the Nara clan. Your father has a special place in their bingo books." He turned to look slightly behind him at his genin. "I'm confident three can take a chūnin. Izumo and I will keep an eye out but one of those guys is your responsibility."

He turned back to his opponent but didn't miss the silent exchange between his students. And moments later the fight started for real. He shouldn't be surprised considering the luck they'd had on this mission that his opponent had lightning affinity thus making his earth jutsus not that effective. He ended up resorting to the classic ninja wire and poisoned kunai combo to get a few cuts on his opponent. After that, it was just stalling until the poison worked its way through his system until he collapsed.

As he turned around he saw Izumo locked blades with one of the Iwa chūnin while his tiny little genin fought against the sensor, who proved to be adept at ninjutsu, switching between earth and water with the occasional fire jutsu thrown in. Causing his genin to scramble out of the way. Masaru's genjutsu wouldn't be too helpful against a sensory type, Kaito was more of a close to mid-range and the chūnin was keeping his distance. And Shizuka was silently dodging, not making a single move to attack.

He stepped towards his genin but before he could Shizuka called out.

"Sensei, the people from the hideout are on the move, making their way here. I'm guessing Kotetsu and Tokuma will also be joining in any minute." She knelt down and did some quick hand signs. _**"Kage Nui no Jutsu."**_ _(Art of Shadow Stitching)_

He only spared a brief glance to Izumo's opponent now covered in holes, Izumo had pushed him just within her range of seven meters for that technique.

"Sorry, Izumo-san, but we needed to cut down on the number of opponents." She glanced back towards Izumo who had been somewhat surprised at his opponent's demise but shrugged it off. "I estimate we have less than ten minutes before the rest join the party."

"A Nara and a sensor, oh this just got much more interesting." The chūnin smirked before pulling out his kunai.

"He's going to try to stall for as long as he can." Kouta stated glancing at his comrades, all of which were fine, even if his genin were more winded than him and Izumo they should be alright.

"And he will make it. We've been fighting for an hour and we barely got a scratch in. Deal with the ones incoming we can handle this guy." Masaru said as he moved in closer to the other two.

"Be careful. As soon as we're done we'll help." Kouta spared one last glance at his genin before turning to the running shinobi.

The three genin paid no mind to the fight starting behind them as the four adult Konoha shinobi fought the last five from the hideout. They knew they wouldn't allow one to attack them from behind and even if one managed to get past Shizuka would be able to give them a fair warning.

"Hey Masaru, first plan ever?" Shizuka smirked over at her teammate who answered in kind. "Kaito, the first move is yours."

Kaito nodded before reaching for the weights around his ankle and deactivating them, allowing him to move at full speed, with a katana in hand to clash with the chūnin they were fighting.

"So, you are the close-range combat for the team, hm? Which means blondie is likely only long range." The chūnin smirked using his free hand to punch Kaito in the stomach sending him flying, luckily Shizuka caught him before he hit a tree. But now they had an enemy between them Masaru, who was still only decent at taijutsu.

The Iwa chūnin wasted no time in running towards the blond genin kunai poised to strike the neck, only to stumble a few feet away, the kunai piercing the boy's left shoulder instead.

"Truthfully, this team's dynamic is a little more complicated than that." The boy's voice changed to a lighter more feminine tone.

"How?" The sensor breathed as he glanced down at his body being pierced by shadows in every direction.

"We figured quite early in our training layered genjutsu and shadows worked well together, add in her sensory abilities we figured we could incorporate that in to confuse more powerful sensors and genjutsu users, such as yourself." Masaru smirked as the illusion faded completely, revealing Shizuka as the one he had just stabbed with a kunai.

Shizuka stumbled back, releasing her jutsu allowing the enemy to fall down, one of her hands clutching her shoulder and the other ready to brace her fall backwards. Moments later Masaru was beside her pressing some bandages to her shoulder. Kaito moved to stand over their fallen enemy to check for a pulse before kneeling on Shizuka's other side.

"Masaru, Kaito, Shizuka well done, but I need you to retreat. Get Shizuka to the house, now. This shouldn't take long." Kouta-sensei spoke as he kicked one of the Iwa shinobi away from him. There were only three left, Tokuma was handling a chūnin, while Izumo and Kotetsu tackled a jōnin together. Leaving the last jōnin for Kouta to deal with.

The three genin nodded, Masaru put Shizuka on his back, while Kaito ran alongside them back to the house. As soon as they arrived the shepherd's wife appeared with her husband, both leaping into action to help the three. The woman, helped the girl out of the borrowed clothes and helped her clean and wrap the wound over the wrapping she usually wore around her chest. And then she helped the girl put on a loose shirt that allowed easy access to the bandages. She let the girl rest while she returned to her team members who were just finishing wrapping Kaito's ribs.

"Is there anything you need?" She offered kindly, ushering the boys into the guest bedroom which usually only held two futons and now had in addition to that five other sleeping bags.

"No, thank you. We shall simply rest until our sensei returns. It shouldn't be too long now."

The woman smiled and walked down the hallway into her own room, her husband soon following. The two boys watched slowly woke up their friend and helped her sit up. Then Kaito stitched up the wound and helped her re-wrap it, before telling her to rest. They then waited quietly for the rest to return. Moon was already in the sky when they returned.

"Kaito, Masaru, how is she?" Kouta-sensei sat next to his female student and looked over her bandaged shoulders.

"It's deep and but she cleaned the wound and we stitched it up. I personally think one of us, if not all of us should know basic first aid medical ninjutsu or -" Masaru rambling was cut short by their sensei's hand.

"We can discuss this later. Now tell me, how did this happen, and are there any other injuries?"

"I have two broken ribs, and we both have a few cuts and bruises but nothing too serious." Kaito informed the jōnin who seem to relax minutely before nodding for them to continue.

"We created an illusion that switches our chakra signature and coupled with a transformation jutsu and a regular genjutsu to change appearance we tricked the sensor into attacking me, a long-range fighter when he was actually attacking her." Masaru explained as he gestured between the two of them. "It worked pretty nicely, we used Kaito to and Shizuka to show their ranges confuse the opponent bringing them closer to someone who is deadly in close combat."

Masaru paused in his explanation, his features shifting into a frown. Kaito picked up on his friend's mood and continued instead.

"We don't get why she didn't stop him in time, so he ended up stabbing her. But if I were to venture a guess it would be she used too much chakra and didn't have enough to reach the full range, so he ended up too close to her."

The three chūnin stepped quietly into the room, already changed out of their bloodied clothes.

"How's tiny doing?" Izumo asked as he settled into his sleeping bag.

"She's alright. Though I'll be more content once she's been checked out by a medic."

"Her chakra reserves are exhausted, and nothing seems damaged." Tokuma deactivated his Byakugan and turned to go back to the living room. "I'll keep watch just in case, I'll wake you up for next watch."

"Thank you, Tokuma-san. We can talk about arrangements to search the hideout in the morning.

As the Hyūga left, the rest settled in for the night, and it didn't take long for all of them to fall asleep.


	5. Reset

"Speaking."

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

When Shizuka woke up, the first thing she noticed was that her shoulder was throbbing and itching at the same time. She slowly sat up to glance around the room. Everything seemed to have been packed and so she assumed they would be returning to Konoha soon.

She carefully dressed in her usual attire, being cautious as to jostle her injury too much. Her braid had completely fallen apart so she settled with pulling it apart with her good hand, simply tying it in a low ponytail.

"So, you're finally awake." Kouta-sensei's voice rang from the doorway as she finished stuffing her things into her bag. "You've been asleep for over a day."

"What did I miss?" She walked towards her sensei and they made their way to the kitchen where the other shinobi were sitting around a low table. "Morning." She offered the Chūnin a small smile and ruffled her teammates' hair before sitting down on Masaru's side.

"We checked out the hideout!" Masaru smirked at her pout. "Tokuma explained the general things to look for and how to properly document it afterwards."

"Anything interesting?" She smiled thankfully at her sensei when he placed some toast in front of her.

"Scrolls. They were setting up the base, so no files had been brought over yet." Kaito continued as Masaru took a bite of his toast. "But we did find out what they were searching for. Apparently, some guy won a rare artefact and disappeared, their trails leading them here. And the since they were so close to the little base they decided to use it as their camp."

"So, there were two missions going on? A settlement mission and an acquisition?" She glanced at her sensei who nodded as he sat across from Masaru and in between Izumo and Tokuma.

"Now eat up. We will leave as soon as you're all done."

* * *

"Tadaima!" Shizuka called as she pulled her sandals off, struggling a little as she could only use one hand.

The journey back had been thankfully uneventful, and they made it back in good time. After stopping at the Hokage's office to report, the hospital check up, and stopping by the dango shop with her two teammates for a quick snack, they went their separate ways.

"Okaeri, One-san!" Shikamaru looked up from his position on the couch between Ino and Chōji, who also greeted her with small waves and smiles. "How was your mission?"

"More complicated than what it should have been." She moved over to ruffle his hair, making him groan and his friends to giggle. "Is Ka-san outside?"

"I thought I heard you coming in. How was your mission?" Her mother came up the small steps from the garden she had just been tending to. She kissed her daughter on the top of her head and walking with her towards the kitchen to prepare some tea.

"Our mission was fine if not for the Iwa shinobi that had been in the area." She shrugged, sitting at the table waiting for the tea. "Masaru got away with only cuts and bruises as did sensei and the three Chūnin sent to help. Kaito broke some ribs and I got a stabbed in the shoulder."

Her mother turned sharply towards her daughter who rubbed the back of her head and gestured towards her left shoulder. Pulling the zipper from her jacket down, she slightly showed the bandages that had been wrapped around the wound.

"And on your dominant side too," Yoshino noted, moving to pour the tea. "How long are you to stay off training?"

"Kouta-sensei wants us to practice tree and water walking, so I don't think too long. But I'm supposed to take it easy for the week until I remove the stitches."

Yoshino started moving around the kitchen to prepare dinner for the family, pausing only briefly to send Ino and Chōji off with their mothers.

* * *

Shikaku was reading over some reports when a knock sounded at his door.

"Come in." He called, rolling up the scroll and placing it aside as he leaned his elbows on the desk.

"Shikaku-san." Hiro Kouta walked into his office and sat directly across from him. "I'm here to talk about your daughter."

"Something happen on your mission?" He observed the younger man and his posture. It seemed relaxed, but he also knew that the man was nervous about something.

"C-Rank, mountain lion killing sheep. The team did well, but your daughter spotted something not too far from where we were." He shrugged. He watched as Shikaku held his eyes closed for a moment before he continued. "Iwa was settling in a small cave complex. They had obviously just started preparing the place as it was empty save a scroll or two. She saw them through some layered genjutsu from four miles away."

"She's getting better at it then."

"I did tell Masaru to start learning to layer genjutsu and since she's the weakest at it on the team, she could use the practice. Seems like it's almost subconsciously that she senses people."

"So that's why the Hokage requested an immediate reconnaissance and infiltration team."

"Hai. Three Chūnin came to keep watch on the group, but then two more Iwa Jōnin showed up in town, searching for something. They likely spotted us when heading back to the shepherd's house."

"They went to the compound then? Same or different missions?"

"Different. From what we could tell four were on the trail of an artefact the other five were working on the base. In any case, we didn't manage to avoid confrontation. Thankfully the groups had been split up when pursuing us." Kouta sighed and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest before continuing. "Two in pursuit of the boys, five under watch in the hideout two after Shizuka."

"Considering my afternoon has been quiet, I assume it all worked out."

"We took the groups down little by little. Kaito broke two ribs and Shizuka got stabbed in the shoulder, nothing life threatening once cleaned and stitched." He spoke the last part quickly as to not startle the man too much but paused to give the man time to gather his thoughts. "She took out two Chūnin with the shadow stitching, one with an unknowingly Izumo pushing him into her range. The other was a sensor whom she tricked by shifting places with Masaru as he put up a genjutsu."

"They figured she was a Nara and kept dancing out of range?" The Nara pinched the bridge of his nose. It was not uncommon for shinobi to start avoiding the shadows like a plague when confronted with a Nara, and it got seriously annoying after a while.

"And by switching places with Masaru, undergoing a transformation, layered genjutsu and manipulating her chakra signature, the Chūnin ran straight into her."

"Hence the stab wound. She got the basics of Shadow stitching rather quickly, but she tends to overuse her chakra. I imagine the two, as well as the rest of the battle, was too much?"

"Hai. She slept for a day after and is fine now, though the team will be taking two days off before any type of training."

"So now all you have to explain is why you are telling me all this and not my daughter." Shikaku straightened his back and clasped his hands on the desk.

"She has the potential to be a formidable sensor with the proper training. But we both know she would be pulled up the ranks rather quickly for those skills. The Chūnin exams are in Suna this year, but the year after that will be here."

"You want to keep her abilities hidden for now then," Shikaku concluded before looking at an empty spot on his desk for a moment. Kouta held in a snort at the similarities of the father-daughter duo's expression while in their 'thinking pose'. "The team won't question you if you don't enter them, but they also won't be satisfied with only D-Ranks."

"We'll work it out. This gives them all the time to develop further."

"Thus making her more prepared for the missions she'll probably be getting once she makes Chūnin. How many people know about her?"

"The three Chūnin: Hyūga Tokuma, Kamizuki Izumo and Kotetsu Hagane. The Hokage knows she has potential because of the first day at the academy, but my missive said that a possible base for Iwa shinobi was spotted. I didn't give names, and I would tell him if he asked, but he hasn't."

"He might suspect it's her, but I also don't believe he would be the one to push for her promotion." Shikaku stood, silently putting scrolls into different drawers and sealing them shut. "I'll keep training her on sensory techniques. My brother Daichi is skilled in the area but is often away on long terms."

"Of course the Bloody Shadow is your brother. Haven't seen him in years." Kouta laughed as he walked out of the office with Shikaku in tow. "Always thought you were cousins."

"He's my little brother who gets all my daughter's attention when he's around." Shikaku shook his head as the man next to him continued to chuckle. "You find it funny now, but when he shows up she'll stop focusing on your training and concentrate on him."

The two men walked through the village until they had to part ways for their individual homes.

* * *

"So, here's the game plan." Kouta leaned against his usual boulder as his Genin sat in front of him. "While I believe you would all do well in this year's Chūnin exams, I believe an extra year training would ensure you all succeed on your first try."

"Does that mean we are doing D-ranks for the next year and a half?" Masaru groaned, already dreading all the babysitting and capture the cat missions.

"I will start requesting fewer D-ranks and more C-ranks, as I know you can handle those smoothly. Our mission last week got meddled with a B-rank which even then you handled well despite your lack of experience."

"This means special training doesn't it?" Shizuka questioned, earning herself side glances from the two boys. "We are going to be trained in specific areas as well as the general improvement we've been doing. And I'm also guessing you're planning on giving us more leadership missions."

"Correct on all accounts. You will all receive training in the areas you show most potential, but team practices continue for general abilities, speed, stealth, strength. And I am officially done with D-ranks. From now on any D-rank you receive you will take turns leading."

He smiled as his Genin perked as they started to truly consider what the extra time would allow them. He let them chat excitedly for a little bit before clearing his throat and bringing the attention back to him.

"Now, this team is a versatile squad. You have the potential to be a heavy hitting team, but also a team specialised in intelligence, infiltration or acquisition." Kouta started glancing at his students, assessing their reactions. "Nothing stops you from being a heavy hitter if you choose any of the other options, but choosing a specialisation will determine which areas to focus on."

"Infiltration and intelligence usually go hand in hand, and it's not too difficult to think of an infiltration turned acquisition either," Shizuka states, leaning back on her hands. "Kaito and I are good at adapting and observing, Masaru tends to stand out a bit more, but we can use that to our advantage."

"And while he probably can't identify certain cues just by observing people as Shizuka and I can from years of just observing, its nothing he can't pick up on." Kaito continued his female teammate's train of thought.

Kouta turned to the third Genin, who looked thoughtful as he considered his two teammates' comments. After a few minutes of silence, Masaru looked up and looked directly at the Jōnin.

"So we can specialise in infiltration but also elaborate on the academy basics of acquisition and intel gathering that we apply to our specialisation."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Kouta lip twitched into a smile as his Genins' became determined with their future path. "But for training, since Shizuka should take it easy on her shoulder we can still learn tree running and water walking. So let's start…"

* * *

*Edited 08/2018

Thanks to my beta Kaname84 and the early morning she spent on these.


	6. Observation

"Speaking."

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

"Good morning!" Kouta appears from behind his usual boulder on 'their' training grounds.

It was early morning, earlier than their usual meeting time and all three Genin were nearly falling asleep against the rocks. Masaru sat crossed legged, his face leaning on his hand propped against his knee. Kaito had his head resting on his hands on the rock behind them, but both had their eyes partially open. Shizuka was actually sleeping, he suspected, her chin touching her chest and arms crossed with her legs extended in front of her.

He made a point of dropping the bag he carried on her lap, startling her out of her light doze, ignoring her grumbles.

"We're starting your specialisation training today!" Kouta held in a snort at his students' unimpressed look. "But before we start practice, who can tell me what you need to know for infiltration- Shizuka don't even try that."

Shizuka smiled sheepishly as she pulled her hand away from the zip of the bag and pushed it towards Masaru who sat furthest from her. Her teammate snorted and set the bag aside and out of her field of vision.

"We need to know how to blend in," Kaito answered once their attention had been returned to their sensei. "whether it is into a shinobi organisation or civilian village."

"At first we will only receive infiltration into civilian areas. These can be ranked up to B rank if it is a more organized gang, but let's start with basics. What would likely give a shinobi away?"

"Our chakra, reflexes, appearance." Shizuka ticked off her fingers. Kouta gestured for her to elaborate. "Reflexes are obvious, civilians don't react the same way a shinobi would, even if they are bandits. Appearance is harder, but say if you are in bingo books then the bounty on you is a potential risk. Blowing your cover because of chakra amongst civilians is rare considering they would have to sense your chakra for that."

"Indeed, but you might still run into the occasional shinobi and that would be a problem. Now you can suppress your chakra to 'civilian' level and even loosen your grasp of it so that it appears less controlled, but good sensors would be able to tell. This is something we will practice some, but since I don't expect to need to hide from shinobi as civilians it will not take priority. Now, what are the skills you will need?"

"Stealth, to get into hideouts. Any way to gather information from passive searching and questioning to interrogation." Masaru suggested, watching as their sensei compiled a list on a piece of paper he pulled from his vest.

"How to read people, profiling, memorising the smallest details." Shizuka paused to glance at her teammates before continuing. "To play certain roles you need more specific skills, from how to move, speak and manners."

"We should probably add communicating this between us without giving anything away, planning and improvising cover stories and best ways to compile information." Kaito continued.

"Good! This is quite the start. So, let's work with some of these before we go into in-depth tactics." Kouta glanced over the paper and continued to add some notes. "As I said before the chakra concealing is something you might want to work on your own, if you need help we can talk about it during the next practice. Shizuka you will be the point of reference here, we will throw in drills for your own practice as a sensor and test your own abilities at concealing your signatures."

"Next would be information gathering." Shizuka tilted her head, her eyes narrowing on her sensei. "Please tell me you aren't going to send us to spend time with Morino-san and Inoichi-Oji-san at the T&I."

"I wasn't planning to." The 'yet' was added mentally in Kouta's mind. "Again, interrogation isn't something you should worry about just yet, we'll stay with more passive methods and once you have those down we can progress to other methods."

"That leaves profiling, memorisation, acting, communication and compiling information. Man, this will be troublesome." She sighs dramatically, winking at her teammates who just snort at her antics.

"Memorisation is something that will come to you eventually. Compiling is also straightforward, though brushing up on the basic Konoha coding system might not be the worst idea. But we can come up with something to help in those areas."

"We should learn hand signals and how to communicate silently will probably come with more practice together." Shizuka suggested, watching warily as their sensei finished making notes on the piece of paper before he placed it in his vest and looked up at his students with a glint in his eyes.

"Now for what's in that bag…"

* * *

Shizuka was deep in thought as she walked through the training grounds after a long training with her team. They started their specialization training just over a week ago and she was already dreading the next session.

It started off easily, with Kouta-sensei giving them a list of basic things to notice when observing someone and possible conclusions you could make from each combination of facts. Then they went into role play. Their sensei had given each of them a character to 'be' and they had to ask each other questions to figure out their 'motive' for one crime or the other. After that, they were given a person to follow and for the next three days. That's all they did, swapping people with each other the following day so that they could cross-reference information. Now they were pretending to be those people, their mannerisms, everything from how they walked to speech patterns.

Each of her teammates had a different area of interest. Masaru was better at following people, he could weave genjutsu to make himself invisible in crowded areas. Even if the Chūnin they were asked to follow had caught him, he admitted he had sensed the other two following him the days before and he got a bit tired of it all. Meanwhile, Kaito fell easily into all his roles, but that was only superficially. He could copy mannerisms and link it easily with personality and speech, which was rather impressive considering speech patterns were something that had so many variables. Shizuka herself was more interested in the psychological aspect of it all. Where Kaito couldn't always see the reasoning behind his character's actions, she would just analyze all the information and make assumptions about motives.

Shizuka was so immersed in her thoughts about her training that she was startled by the chakra spike in the clearing just ahead of her. She silently crept closer, peeking around a tree to watch as two boys sparred.

Both had black hair, the older boy's spiky and short hair while the other's was in a low ponytail. From the symbol on their shirts, she identified both as Uchihas. They continued for a few more minutes before they pushed away from each other, the older boy turning to her location.

"Looks like we have an audience, Itachi-kun."

The younger boy, Itachi, turned to her. She took that as an invitation to step out from behind the tree and noted he seemed to be the same age as she was.

"Ah sorry! I was walking home and heard you practising, I just got curious." She shifted on her feet for a few seconds before giving a brief wave. "I'm Nara Shizuka."

"I'm Uchiha Shisui, and this is Itachi." The older boy waved back. "And don't worry, we should probably be on our way anyways."

He started moving around the clearing, picking up the kunai that littered the ground. Itachi and Shizuka also helped, picking up the ones closest to them. She tried ignoring the glances from the younger Uchiha prodigy.

"Again, I'm sorry. But that was a really impressive jutsu." She smiled, handing over the weapons she had gathered.

"How long were you there for? You are quite good at concealing your chakra you know?" Shisui led the trio started away from the training grounds and towards the village.

"My sensei is having us practice concealing our signature, I wasn't even aware I was doing it." She shrugged. "I'd say I was there for about ten minutes, but I couldn't say for sure."

"Impressive, considering we only sensed you just before we stopped." Itachi finally spoke up, glancing at her once again almost as if searching for a hidden motive.

"You still noticed, so I guess that just means I need to practice some more." The trio went silent after that and eventually, they broke away in the direction of their clans' compounds with only a nod in farewell.

* * *

"Hokage-sama." Team 4 greeted as they shuffled into the mission assignment room almost a month later.

"Team 4. I've heard that you have been progressing nicely in your specialization training." The Hokage glanced up from the scroll spread in front of him. "There is a C-Rank information gathering mission you'll be interested in. A coastal town has reported some supplies have been missing. Since it is a coastal town people tend to come and go, but the supplied are disappearing at a constant rate so it isn't a one-off."

Kouta-sensei stepped forward and glanced over the scroll nodding to the Hokage before ushering his team out once they were dismissed.

"It will take us about a week to get there and hopefully we can finish the whole thing in three weeks. We are unlikely to run into trouble on the way. The little information that we have is that this is a civilian group, which explains the low-ranking mission." Kouta-sensei told them as they left the administration building. "Don't forget your civilian kit. We'll meet at the gates in an hour."

* * *

On the way to the town Kouta-sensei explained that they were supposed to act as civilians, so they would stop just before getting to town to change and walk the rest of the way there. They would also break into smaller groups and arrive two at a time.

"Kaito, you'll need to transform into someone older and accompany Masaru into town. Shizuka and I will enter a few hours later. I will show you where the inn we are staying in is, go straight there once inside."

"Once inside what's our plan?" Masaru asked as they jumped between the branches of the trees.

"We'll spread out. I recommend a simple henge to look older, no need to go overboard. Once in town, we don't need to be with whoever we went into it with."

"That also opens an opportunity to more 'characters'. We can switch between each of our own depending on who we are talking to." Shizuka heard their sensei's hum of approval before she spoke again. "What about communication? If we're spread out we won't be able to reach each other easily."

"We will select meeting points beforehand after an initial sweep of the town once we get there, report through hand signs or coded notes if you find a way how. At night we compile and cross-reference, then we adapt for the next day and so continue."

The trip there was uneventful. They split watch and tasks for the camp and at the end of that week, they found themselves in a small clearing just two hours from the entrance of the village.

They each went behind a tree to change into their civilian garbs. Masaru and a transformed Kaito started to make their way while Shizuka and the Jōnin waited for them to be a certain distance from them before following them.

Arriving into town and getting their rooms was even less eventful. They had three rooms: the two boys in one, their sensei in another and the only female member of the team had a room of her own despite the grumbles of her teammates.

"Alright, since its past lunch we will only be walking around town, take note of the more crowded areas and frequented shops. We will reconvene here tonight."

Each took their turn leaving the inn and heading off in a different direction for their first initial sweep of the town.

* * *

*Edited 08/2018

Thanks to my beta Kaname84 aka oh sleepless one.


	7. Mind-Map

"Speaking."

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

The first two days of the mission went by pretty quickly. The day they had arrived they walked around town and noted the number of people in each area. Along the coast, tourists and residents would walk down the street and occasionally sit on the benches to watch the sea. On the docks, it was usually only people who had business to do there, such as picking up or dropping off merchandise or people that were arriving and leaving town via boats.

The town centre was also often busy since it was in the heart of the village surrounded by shops and restaurants. It attracted a lot of people and there was a street just off the main one that had a bar; it seemed to be popular both amongst residents and tourists.

Kouta-sensei left to check out the bar once they planned for the following day and promised to inform them of anything the next morning. Thus, the team sat in a small circle just before leaving to the streets.

"The town people are a little anxious about the missing supplies. They tried to set up guards, but the supplies that go missing are from different ships and different companies with nothing tying them together beyond the port."

"If we can find the data of docking ships we can probably cross-reference them to see which ones are always here when the thefts happen." Shizuka suggested as she tugged on the sleeves of her simple kimono.

"I'll see if I can convince the dock manager, but I might have to go to the merchant's guild for the records." Kouta then looked towards the boys. "You two have the main square today, we will meet in the dango shop across the street from this inn. Let's move out."

At first, they just listened to conversations and when the topic of the thefts sprung up, they either followed that person or bumped into them pretending to be surprised at the indirectly asked those who were more informed about sources and so on.

Masaru had been the only one of the Genin to get anything relatively useful. He noticed that most of the people thought it was a merchant behind the thefts as some searches had been conducted by civilian guards, but nothing had ever been found.

Kouta-sensei was unsuccessful at getting the records from the docks, but one of the guards introduced him to a scribe in the merchants' guild that would help him. His cover story was that he was just searching for a specific a seller that had an amazing ointment, but couldn't remember the name. He wanted to look at the ships that regularly showed up in hopes of jogging his memory.

Lunch came and went, the team exchanged coded messages via tapping on their individual tables at the dango shop. They soon returned to their locations with the instruction to focus on the merchants for suspicious behaviour.

Shizuka was sitting on a bench trying to overhear two men loading a small foreign looking vessel with crates full of silk two at a time. Their conversation was pretty dull for the first few crates, but just as she was going to move on, they changed topics.

"I don't know how these foreigners can stay so long at sea. Almost two weeks sailing with stops only to restock and pick up the merchandise and then back again."

"That's probably why they were looking to set up a store in town." The second man, tall and tan with dark hair and eyes, shrugged as they dropped the last crate on the ship. "That's the last of it, let us return to Doi-sama."

Shizuka waited for them to move further away before standing, her eyes casually scanning the crowds to see if Kouta-sensei had returned from the merchant's guild. Not having spotted him, she followed the two men, reaching out her senses to try to find her sensei. She located him still at the guild's headquarters.

As the men entered the building she assumed was the guild's headquarters, she moved towards the back of it ducking into an alley, finding a window to glance inside. The back of the building was not nearly as extravagant as the front and instead had a small door and small high windows, probably to let light in but to avoid people from looking in.

Gathering some chakra onto her hands and feet, she quickly scaled up the building to glance inside seeing only a warehouse-like interior full of crates. It made sense considering it was a merchant's guild. Seeing no one inside she started picking the lock, but before she could unlock it she heard voices coming down the alley towards her. With a quick burst of speed, she dashed around the other corner.

She listened in as a group of workers unlocked the door and went inside, listing off the crate reference numbers they needed to pick up and sign off on to load a hip belonging to their boss, Harue-sama.

She waited for as long as she could, hoping that they would say more or move out so that she could look inside, but they spent a while inside gathering the boxes and loading them onto a cart to take to the dock. She had only managed to gather small details about the crates and some protective measures the merchant's guilds were taking to prevent more thefts. Glancing at the sky, she decided it was best if she came back the following day as she was supposed to meet her teammates soon.

She walked down the street calmly, moving through the fuller streets, easily spotting a small shop with workers hammering shelves into place. She glanced around taking note of its specific location to pass on to her teammates.

She spotted who she assumed was Kaito in his older looking henge, approaching the inn at the same time as she. She ducked her head and thanked the kind 'stranger' for holding the door open for her and moved to request her dinner to take it up to her room.

Kaito walked out of his and Masaru's room, hair still wet and dinner in hand. They glanced around the corridor before knocking and waiting for their sensei to call them in. Team 4 sat around the low table and ate their dinners filling the silence with the information they gathered.

"How did you know it was silk clothes?" Masaru leaned forward after Shizuka explained what she heard.

"No sounds from the box, so not something that would make noise. It had to be light because they carried two at a time. The stamp had the stamp of a well-known silk merchant." She shrugged before pausing leaning on her hand propped on the table, the plates now cleared away. "And I assume it was full clothes instead of silk rolls because the boxes were too small for the standard size of a silk roll."

"Not bad." Kouta-sensei smirked, patting the top of her head and causing her to scowl. "I got the records copied from the merchant's guild. I have gone over it once and made notes, but Shizuka, you're the best at spotting patterns so this will be your task for the morning."

"Hai, sensei." She reached over to grab the stack of paper, wrinkling her nose at the amount she would have to go through, putting them on the table she resumed her former position. "What will you be doing tomorrow?"

"I will check out the back of the merchant's guild. Kaito, you will need your henge again to go to the docks. Some of the smaller vessels sell things there as they don't always want to pay for a stall in the market. Masaru, I want you to follow the foreigner's and see what they do in the time they are on land."

* * *

The next morning, she sat in her room with the dock records across her floor. She kept rearranging them and making notes. She eventually went out and bought a spool of ribbon to start making connections between the sheets, holding them in place with some senbon. She lost track of time and was a few minutes late to the check in with her team in a small restaurant.

She took notice of Kouta-sensei's raised eyebrows and the others' questioning looks. Signing a quick 'got distracted, mind map', she picked up her lunch and moved to leave. Signing for the Jōnin to walk towards her, she 'accidentally' knocked into him, slipping a small note to him and returning to the inn.

In the restaurant, Kouta continued towards the counter and ordered a small bowl of edamame for himself. On the way back, he tapped the pocket in his shirt telling his two students that Shizuka had slipped him a message. He scanned over the short note, a request from Shizuka for him to find out about a list of businesses. He split the task between the three of them and signalled them to meet in the alley behind the restaurant.

"We need to gather information on these businesses, no explanation as to why, but I suppose we'll find out later tonight." The Jōnin shook his head, passing the torn-up note to his students.

"So, we need the names of the owners, descriptions of products and a list of their suppliers?" Masaru glanced at the two names on his sheet.

"If you can get your hands on their books, see who buys the most and so on that would also be beneficial."

The trio spread out again. Kaito only had one target while the other two had two each. They spent the rest of their afternoon getting that information and they returned to the inn later than they had the previous day. They got their dinner, Kouta getting some for Shizuka as he doubted she would have left her room to get it.

They knocked on her door where they assumed they would be eating, hearing the muffled sounds of their female teammate's footsteps and the crumbling of paper. The door opened a fraction and they were met with the sight of Shizuka in black pants, a baggy shirt and her hair in a bun, a few strands of hair framing her face.

"You're back! And you brought me food! Thank you." She smiled sheepishly and let them in. "Careful where you step."

They all blinked slowly, taking in the mess her room had become. There were three different coloured ribbons linking different sheets of paper. Some, they noticed, were in her handwriting, dates, names and locations pinpointed on a tourist map of the town.

"You've been busy," Kouta-sensei stated as she closed the door behind the three of them. They all sat around her table that was quickly cleaned from the paper and ink so they could sit around. "Let us explain what we found and then we go into your little project."

"You honestly didn't miss much from the lunch meeting, we heard a couple more rumours. Someone has been pressing for higher prices to dock and for better monitoring of the stalls next to the ships, but the council doesn't agree." Kaito pulled out some paper from his pockets. "There were leaflets about the campaign to keep the docking charge from going up."

"It's been a while since the last theft, so we can assume another will happen within the next few days. If we can come up with the supplies more likely to get stolen, we can keep an eye out."

Kouta-sensei then set his plate aside, moving to stand at the centre of the mind map and gestured around him.

"When I asked you to go over the papers, I thought just notes would do."

"I got too excited by the patterns." Shizuka grinned, jumping up and moving to stand next to her sensei. "Whoever did this is very clever. There have been eleven stolen crates of supplies. The products were three crates of fabrics, two of medicinal herbs, one of ceramics, two of glassware, and three of pharmaceuticals."

As she spoke, she pointed to five patches of paper laid out in a circle in front of her. Then she turned back towards the table and pointed to the map she had gotten from the inn's reception.

"Here are the locations of the shops and warehouses of these companies. Follow the black threads pinned on the map to the little circle there." She pointed her thumb back to the circle Kouta-sensei was still examining. "It's not complete, which is why I asked you all to look into the companies. As I said the person behind this is clever and has been making people go around in circles."

"Why don't you keep walking us through while we write down what we learned and you can slot it into this thing you've made." Kouta gestured around, shaking his head as he moved back towards the table and paused to pick up the blank sheets of paper and ink for them to use.

"Well red is showing who would suffer from the missing supplies and green is who would benefit. Five industries, ceramics and glassware are vaguely competitive, herbs and pharmaceuticals are also linked. If ceramics go missing, they need to charge more and thus glassware becomes cheaper. If herbs go missing, pharmaceuticals will either have their products become more expensive or if they synthesised formulas they sell more."

Shizuka traced the red and green ribbons. She proceeded to explain how red means drawbacks and green means benefits. She also showed black threads leading to specific people who she had managed to connect through the records.

"Interesting enough there are two people who benefit more than they suffer drawbacks from the thefts. Tanahashi Doi and Mori Harue are both part of the more influential merchant's guild members. Doi works more with clothes but he has investments in all of these industries. Harue is the heiress to her father's business which dealt with making silks and unique clothing lines made for each client exclusively."

"You think they are competing for control over the market and one is stealing to disrupt the other's business." Kaito surmised as he finished writing what he had, extending the paper out for her to grasp. "I was looking at the pharmaceutical business. They were planning on buying some of the herbs to make medicine, so it rules them out, I guess."

"Doi regularly buys from them and even owns a fraction of the business after the company went through some rough periods." At the inquisitive glances she felt on her back, she elaborated as she added Kaito's sheet to the pharmaceuticals patch. "They reduced their shipments drastically and only after Doi invested in them, providing materials at a cheaper price did they reach the same profits they had before whatever happened."

"Then Harue is more likely to be orchestrating the thefts, right?" Masaru clapped his hands only to frown as their sensei and Shizuka walked back to the circle of papers. "What is it?"

"Harue lost a lot of her _exclusive_ fabrics. Even if in quantity she suffered less in monetary terms she lost more. But from what Kouta-sensei told us about his time in the guild, Harue isn't involved in any of the guards being set up." Shizuka explained as she skimmed over her notes.

"So, people are suspicious of her, doesn't that help our case?" Masaru stood and walked to stand beside his teammates, looking around for the right places to put his sheets.

"Not this time. Think about it, civilians escaping guards? While not unheard of no one should have known the guards were stationed near the crates and yet all the 'most likely' merchandise to be stolen stayed in place." Kouta-sensei started to follow the ribbons, cutting a black one and connecting them to the requests to have guards for some shipments.

"A false trail. How much money did Doi lose then?" Masaru pitched in, having moved closer to pin his sheets in place

"I only have basic ideas of the products in each crate and their quality, but from what I can tell not much maybe a third less than what Harue lost." Shizuka then jumped across the circle and knelt down next to the records of the docks. "There, the longest gap between the thefts is the one between the pharmaceutical crate and the two crates of fabrics. It's been a while since they struck. I think they will strike another box of fabrics, probably tomorrow as one of Harue's regular client's ship arrives."

"Why do you say that? It's been whenever the opportunity arises as we've seen, the dates aren't regular, and the products change. The last crate stolen was fabrics, they've never gone for the same thing twice in a row." Kaito pointed to the map with the dates.

"True, but the others are for the sake of creating a false trail. If he can steal his own things to throw them off his trail and not lose any of the money, he can probably fake the records and say things are worth more than normal."

"Alright, say you are right. Doi is orchestrating the thefts. He has access to the guards positioning, so he can work a way around that. What is the endgame? He can't continue this infinitely." With the final pieces in place, Kouta-sensei gestured for his students to sit with him around the table.

"Without her fabrics and exclusive lines, Harue is pretty much out of business. She doesn't have nearly as many investments as Doi." Kaito leans on the table, the team paused sharing a small smile between them remembering the hours they spent talking through these scenarios.

"And get this, besides the fact that whenever he steals fabrics, he takes a relatively longer time between thefts, probably not to draw too much attention but the thefts also coincide one thing that happens in the same interval of around two weeks. Care to venture a guess, Masaru-kun?"

"The foreigners. Their ships leave at those intervals. And Doi's company makes more clothes than Harue's which means he can stash the premium clothes with his." He gets a nod in confirmation and then a gesture for him to continue talking, so he did although a bit hesitantly. "And he can use the fabrics for his clothes as well. The herbs go to his pharmaceuticals, the pharmaceuticals themselves can be sold on the black market. The ceramics and glassware though..."

"The answer is still the foreigners, he can sell the stolen products far away so that it can't be traced back to him." Kaito shrugged, picking up where his teammate stopped.

"The foreigners aren't here long enough to actually commit the thefts, so he has others doing that part. And he needs a place to keep the things and that wouldn't be found in raids."

"The new shop." Kouta-sensei spoke up, "The workers are probably his as people wouldn't question builders carrying crates to or from a construction site. Now, we need to plan how to prove all this. Doi _is_ , after all, a rather influential person here."

"We can look at the shop, and the foreigner's ship of it hasn't left," Shizuka suggested as she leaned back on her hands, her eyes closing and her head to falling forward in a slump. "And of course, putting someone to keep watch on Harue's most recent batch of products and someone to keep an eye on Doi."

"Kaito you guard the crates, Masaru you will check out the ship if it has already sailed go to Kaito. Shizuka that leaves the store you and I get to follow Doi." Their sensei then stood, glanced around the messy room, and turned to Shizuka who had already moved to her futon. "I recommend making a sketch of all this, number the pages and all that it will make compiling the final report much easier. For all of us."

The three men snorted as they heard her grumble about all the work she would have to do before going to their rooms.

* * *

Shizuka mused how quickly the mission progressed after that. With all the pieces in place and gathering information from all possible locations, it was easy to build a case against Doi. She didn't find anything but the leftovers from the stolen crates. They were using the wood from the construction to make more boxes and using the stolen boxes as spare wood around the shop. ' _A rather clever way to get rid of evidence'_ she admitted to herself.

Masaru did manage to get into the ship and found beautifully hand embroidered kimonos and yukatas, which were of better quality than the mass-produced clothes Doi's company made. He closed up the crates and isolated the ship keeping everyone out, only allowing the guards in to help him take the crates to the merchant guild's headquarters.

Kaito caught a group red-handed in the act with two more crates of clothing and fabrics. He led the group to headquarters where they easily gave up Doi for a more lenient punishment.

Kouta found a couple payment slips, bags of money and an incriminating ledger of profits which he went over with the same man who had given the records before, Ukyo, who thanked them for solving the problem.

Harue made a point of seeing them off at the gates with a promise from them that if they ever needed a special outfit that they would send her a request which she would handle personally.

They left the town immediately after, taking to the trees and back to Konoha filling the time talking about how to compile a complete report and reminding them about the forms for added material for their report, such as the diagram of Shizuka's mind-map.

She got home after debriefing just in time for dinner after which she joined her father in his office to start on her report. Her mother would walk in not thirty minutes later to see them both asleep, Shikaku with his head resting on his hand propped up on the desk and Shizuka with her head on top of her crossed arms on the desk. She flicked the back of their heads prompting them to wake up and after a bit of grumbling, they left their reports to go to sleep, intending to finish writing them the following day.

* * *

*Edited 11/2018

Thanks to my beta Kaname84!


	8. Hiding in Plain Sight

"Speaking."

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

"We have company." Shizuka states as she locked blades with Kaito.

Masaru and Kouta-sensei were just slightly off to the side going over some katas while she and Kaito sparred using their tantōs. Her teammate took a step back and readied his stance to resume their spar.

"Where?" He glanced around them before focusing on the girl who tilted her head to the left before launching forward, faking an attack his left and changing course last minute forcing him to spin around her.

"Now, straight ahead of you. In a branch mid-way up the tree." She shifted her stance to a defensive one before glancing to his kunai pouch, raising her eyebrows.

Kaito reached down and pulled a handful of senbon and threw a couple at her. She knocked some off of their path while dodging two of them allowing those to hit the branch the observing ninja stood on.

Said ninja jumped down and landed quietly, walking slowly towards their group that now included their sensei and third team member.

"She's not bad for a Genin. Took her a bit longer to notice me but I _was_ suppressing chakra."

"A test, really, sensei?" Shizuka narrowed her eyes at her sensei who shrugged.

"You need to get used to shinobi suppressing their chakra. Even if you aren't actively searching, you might want to make it so that you don't even need to think about it."

"Kakashi, meet my team, Kaito, Shizuka and Masaru." Kouta-sensei gestured at each of his students who tilted their heads in acknowledgement. "Team, this is Hatake Kakashi."

All three had heard of the Jōnin before and although they knew the man was powerful, they couldn't help but exchange disappointed glances before focusing on the two Jōnin again.

Shizuka looked at the silver-haired Jōnin curiously. He was tall with his hair sticking up. His chakra had a slight edge to it, contradicting its smooth movements around his body. She couldn't see much of his face, but what she could see was pretty ordinary. As she focused on his mask, concentrating on outlines in hope of mapping out his face, she got distracted and Masaru has to pinch her arm to bring her out of it.

She turned to scowl at her teammate while Kaito shook his head, eyes shining with amusement before he addressed the new Jōnin.

"Are you going to help us train, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Ah, no." Kakashi chuckled at the three Genin in front of him. "I only came for the test and to let Kouta know that the Hokage just received a mission perfect for your team. Now that that is done, I'm off."

And with a little finger wave, he disappeared with a cloud of white smoke.

"Let us not keep the Hokage waiting." Kouta-sensei waved them along, starting their trek to the Hokage's building, not bothering to hold in his snort as his Genin started debating what was under the mask.

He ignored their attempts at getting information out of him.

* * *

"Hokage-sama, you have a mission for us?" Kouta-sensei straightened up from his bow, his students following his lead.

"Yes, a C-Rank. In a village Northwest of here, civilians have been dying, rumoured cause of death is a new drug. The suspected cartels are all civilian and it is a rather small town, hence the low ranking."

The Hokage handed their sensei the mission scroll. After a quick glance over the scroll, the Jōnin looked back up at the Hokage with a raised his eyebrow. After a silent exchange between their sensei and their leader, the three Genin started shifting around in confusion.

"So, go in, gather information and shut it down." Masaru glanced between the Hokage and his sensei. "That seems pretty straightforward. Shouldn't be too complicated right, Sensei?"

"It shouldn't be." Kouta-sensei put the scroll into his pocket before turning to look at his students. "However, it is close to the border with Iwa, and after the mountain lion mission we've been hesitant about sending any team lower than Chūnin in that direction."

"C-Rank infiltration missions aren't too common and when they are they tend to be rather simple to figure out. This might be a C-Rank, but it would give you a better experience in these missions than any of the others." The Hokage clasped his hands on the desk in front of him, his eyes focused on the three Genin silently assessing them. "Patrols of the border increased, but I feel that sending an extra team member can only benefit in this case."

"Who did you have in mind, Hokage-sama?" Kouta-sensei shot a glance at the door, mentally going through a list of possible Chūnin and Jōnin that might join the team for the mission.

"Seeing as how you might also benefit from someone who has experience with poisons, it might be beneficial to have someone identifying and studying the drug. Shiranui Genma also has experience with infiltration and I'm quite sure he will work well with your team."

"A reasonable choice. Has he already been informed?"

"Indeed, he has. I took the liberty of setting your departure for noon. That should give you just over two hours to prepare. He will be at the gates by then. Good luck."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

* * *

When Shizuka arrived at the gates, only Kaito and Masaru were there. They exchanged greetings and moved to the shade of the gates to wait for their last two companions.

They didn't have to wait long and minutes later their sensei approached accompanied by a man wearing the standard Konoha uniform, light brown hair framing either side of his face. The man wore his headband as a bandanna, the leaf symbol at the back of his head. He had warm brown eyes and a senbon in his mouth which he shifted around as he smirked at the Genin.

"Team 4, this is Shiranui Genma, a Tokubetsu Jōnin. Genma, these are Akiyama Masaru, Hitotose Kaito and Nara Shizuka." Kouta-sensei gestured between each as they nodded in greeting.

"What do you specialise in, Genma-sensei?" Masaru enquired as the team moved to leave the village.

"Ninjutsu with a particular interest in weapons and poisons." Genma followed the team, easily fitting into their formation. "And you can drop the sensei. I'm here more as a backup rather than a teacher."

Kouta was ahead with Shizuka right behind him, allowing her to easily inform their leader should she sense anything out of the ordinary. Kaito and Masaru ran side by side, just behind her and Genma took up the rear in case of attacks, not that they expected any so soon after leaving the village.

"What will be our plan sensei?" Shizuka questioned later as they finished settling in for the night.

"The entrance will be similar to the first time, Genma will go with Kaito and Masaru. He and I will go out at night to check for suspicious activity during the nighttime. In the morning we will debrief, before proceeding as we usually do: splitting up to cover more ground and regrouping at around lunch to share information."

"Do we have the information on who died, when, where and all that? I can get started on a mind-map so that I can set up a larger one when we get to the inn."

Kouta-sensei smirked as he reached into his pouch and unsealed a folder with a map of the city, victims, and more information, handing it over to Shizuka. The original members of team 4 all snorted as the girl eagerly took the folder and started flicking through it. She pulled out a blank paper from the folder and started jotting down notes with small diagrams, completely ignoring her teammates' conversation about possible 'characters' they could assume. Catching Genma's curious gaze towards his female student, Kouta turned to their temporary member.

"Shizuka here made a mess out of her last room with a massive mind map. While someone else has already made some connections, it'll be easier to proceed once we have one set up."

The two Jōnin looked at the girl who continued to scan each paper the brush she used was twirled between each finger of her right hand deftly.

"Such a Nara." Genma snorted and turned to the others to join their discussion of the basics of dealing with drug cartels and possibly toxic substances.

* * *

After a little over a week of travelling, the group made it to the merchant village before noon. This allowed the team to settle into the inn and go out to grab something quick to bring back to eat while also giving them an idea of the area immediately around their 'base'.

Shizuka had stayed behind while the others went out in order to set up the 'map' she had been preparing for the trip there. She brought out the ribbons and used a similar process with stabbing senbon to keep things stuck together, she separated the information into smaller 'patches'. She was walking around, checking her 'map' with her drawn diagram and notes when the others arrived with food.

"When you said massive, I didn't think it would occupy the entire room." Genma deadpanned, moving to sit at the table with the others who all shrugged, having expected it to be large. "Alright, tiny, anything that may have escaped the others' observations?"

"Not really, but I have narrowed down the most likely areas people are getting the drugs from and the dates are all pretty regular too, in clumps of three to five people within four days of each other and this cycle repeats every two weeks." She frowned, glancing at the furthest patch from the tables. She pointed it out towards the others. "The first three victims, however, were all separated by hours and were the most violent deaths. Since then the time between victims has gotten larger and the deaths less… bloody."

"A drug dealer wouldn't want his clients to die, right? It's probably bad for business." Masaru dug into his udon noodles.

"Which either means this isn't your typical cartel or someone is experimenting with a formula for a new drug." Genma supplied as he passed her a box of dumplings, amused as she sent a smile towards her sensei as she noticed what her food was.

"They infect people, wait to see what happens and make alterations to the formula before trying again. That would imply they have a lab to try it out, access to ingredients and people that know how to work with them." Kouta-sensei nodded, glancing at the 'map' around the room before focusing on Shizuka, "Let's eat. Once we've finished we can come up with a list of information we need to look for specifically."

The ninjas talked very little as they ate their meals and once finished, they moved towards the centre of the 'map', listing out areas to pay attention to and places to visit that would sell chemicals and herbs. The Genin all decided to concentrate on the victims and gathering any extra information they could on them.

With a plan to spend the last few hours of daylight gathering information, the group split up. Shizuka walked through the town slowly, stopping at store windows and keeping track of shops and what sort of people were in each part of town. Just as she decided to head back to the inn, she accidentally knocked into a flower cart. Apologising profusely to the vendor, she bought their last tulip and made her way back.

The team had already been waiting for her and they all glanced down at the tulip in her hand and to her face.

"We've been here for less than a day and you've already got an admirer?" Masaru teased, laughing more as she just scowled and kicked his leg as she passed him, placing the tulip in the flower vase on top of the dresser.

"I knocked into a flower cart and felt bad, so I bought a flower." Shizuka sat at the table and pulled out a brush, ink and some sheets of paper, "Now I found some shops to check out the chemicals and also profile for the areas I walked through…"

Shizuka made notes as she explained and then gave each team member a stack of paper. She cheerily told them to start writing as they jotted down information she pinned things to her mind map, adding theirs' as they finished.

"Genma and I will be heading out to check out the nightlife. Don't stay up late and behave." With a stern look, ignoring his students' looks of indignation he stood and left, the other Jōnin leaving moments later.

* * *

They found nothing for the first two days, and that's when the next victim was found. The shinobi were more alert after that, gathering information about a fresher victim was easier without drawing suspicion.

The victims were disconnected. Some were married, some were single, some were widows. Some were drunks or criminals, others were outstanding citizens. Young and old, from different backgrounds and different jobs there wasn't one single thing that linked them all together. And it was getting on Shizuka's nerves.

The team had put together profiles for each area they frequented, their family and their friends. They looked into the shops 'borrowed' their books, but they found nothing out of the ordinary in the specific orders or regular sales.

The new victims allowed Genma to have a closer look at the effects of the poison and drug. He started going over possible combinations of ingredients to narrow down anyone who bought those items specifically.

Just as their second week in town came to a close, Shizuka found herself walking back to the inn for dinner. They hadn't gotten any useful information in two days and the team was going over everything they had found and pretty much remaking the entire map. As she looked down a quiet street with smaller apartment blocks, she decided to take the faster route to the inn.

She looked up just in time to see the vendor of the flower cart leave his house with his cart. In the cart were beautiful exotic flowers of different shapes and colours that she had never seen before. She hadn't been too interested in Ikebana classes the kunoichi students had to attend, but couldn't deny that the skills could be useful on missions.

The flower that caught her attention was a one with white heart-shaped petals and dark green leaves that seemed to have the shape of kunai. It was a pretty flower she had never seen before and she approached the vendor slowly, the man stopping just beside her.

"Good evening! That is quite an interesting flower, I have never seen one before." Shizuka reached towards it, brushing her fingertips across the petals.

"It isn't a natural flower, I bought the seeds from a foreigner and have been planting them ever since." The man explained, meeting Shizuka's eyes as she looked up from smelling the petals. "It's curious how the leaves are the aromatic part of the flower. Would you like one?"

Shizuka accepted and waved goodbye to the vendor, resuming her walk back to the hotel, spinning stem between her fingers. As she turned into the corridor their rooms were in she, saw Kaito leaving his own, probably on his way to get dinner.

"Could you get something for me, please?" Shizuka asked as they passed each other in the corridor of their rooms. She gave him a pouch of coins when he nodded. "Thank you. I'm running a little late and wanted to wash up first."

"No worries. The others should be back soon."

Shizuka dashed into her room and dropped the flower into the same vase as the tulip, moving quickly to the shower. The room filled with steam and she relaxed her body as she went through the motions of showering while her mind drifted back to the mission.

It was a coughing fit that broke her out of her thoughts. Groaning at the thought of getting sick now, she quickly dried off throwing on long pants and a short-sleeved shirt, wrapping a towel around her shoulders as to not get her pyjama shirt wet.

Stepping out of the bathroom she waved to her comrades as she sat herself down and unenthusiastically ate her food, barely paying attention to the exchange of information from the afternoon.

"Shizuka, did you hear anything we said?" Kouta-sensei narrowed his eyes at his student, observing her slumped posture, that while not entirely out of the ordinary for the Nara, she didn't seem as focused as she usually would.

"Sorry, sensei, I can't find it in me to focus." She looked up briefly to rub the back of her neck.

"Are you feeling sick?" The older Jōnin frowned, exchanging a glance with Genma, who sat directly next to the girl.

The Tokubetsu Jōnin placed the back of his hand on the girls head.

"She's freezing." He pointed out frowning, prompting the others to all focus intently on the girl as she started coughing again. "She was fine at lunch."

"Shizuka you need to tell us when you started feeling ill." Kouta-sensei moved so that he could lead the girl to her futon, the other two boys shuffling to stand behind their sensei as he sat next to their teammate.

"Flower cart leaving the apartment building, exotic flowers, I bought one..." She whispered, reaching for a glass of water as her coughing fit stopped.

The focus shifted to the flower pot and the odd flower. Shizuka closed her eyes and forced herself to focus on her teammates speaking.

"What I don't get is why the vendor was leaving their apartment now." Kaito huffed moved to bring the pitcher of water to refill Shizuka's glass as it emptied.

"I haven't seen a flower cart since the first night actually. It was selling flowers to couples that first night too." Genma murmured as he checked the flower. "The flower is odd, I've never seen the likes of it before, although I am far from an expert."

He plucked it from the vase careful to pick it up with gloves, just as he lifted it to smell it Shizuka scrambled out of bed, knocking over the glass of water Kaito was offering her causing it to spill over the boy.

"Don't smell it! Its an airborne drug, poison or whatever it is." Her words sounded slurred and she stumbled, Masaru clasped his arm around her forearms to keep her from falling over.

Genma stopped immediately and put the flower down on the tablecloth and wrapping it tightly.

"Did the vendor tell you anything about the flower? Knowing you, you probably asked questions." Kouta-sensei ushered her back onto the futon.

"He said he got seeds from a foreigner, though he plants them himself. Also, the smell comes from the leaves and not the petals."

"You just had to smell the pretty flower." Masaru groaned, causing Shizuka to grumble something about learning and although the other two members of team 4 were still worried, they still looked faintly amused at her attempt at defending herself.

"Well, her core temperature is lower than it should be, that causes breathing issues. She didn't inhale the drug directly and any residue on her hands was cleared in the shower. She needs to stay warm." Genma picked up the wrapped flower. "I brought some basic equipment so I'll have a look at what I can find out from the flower."

"Shizuka, you rest and Masaru keep an eye on her. If something happens, go to Genma. Kaito and I will go to the flower vendor."

* * *

*Edited 10/2018

Thanks to my beta Kaname84!


	9. Improvement

"Speaking."

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

Two hours after the team split up, Genma returned to the little kunoichi's room, moving over to Masaru who was reading a book by the table.

"Have you found anything about the plant?" Masaru put his book aside, clasping his hands on the table.

"The flower was created in a lab. The leaves are coated with these tiny particles that you breathe in; it makes your body produce mucus that your body tries to expel by coughing." He sat down across from the boy and poured himself a glass of water. "I'm waiting on results, but the lowered body temperature is probably also due to the substance and the objective would be to accelerate the breathing problems."

"What about all the blood from the other cases?"

"The substance was probably reaching the stomach if you kept swallowing instead of coughing it out and was causing irritation in the stomach." Genma shrugged, tapping his fingers on the table as he shifted the senbon in his mouth. "The people didn't expect the blood, it's probably what they are trying to change. Don't know what the purpose for it is either."

"Maybe they want it to kill but less blood to make it less obvious? The loss of focus, coughing, irritation in the stomach, I would guess just a bout of sickness, the lower body temperature contradicts that but maybe they plan on changing that too."

"Hm... maybe." The Jōnin thought for a few minutes before shifting his gaze to the girl still asleep. "We were lucky she didn't smell the leaves, she probably got very few of the particles. As soon as I figure out the ingredients I'll work on an antidote. Keep checking her temperature and I'll be in my room if you need anything."

Masaru nodded and watched as the Jōnin left. He glanced over at his sleeping teammate and walked over to check her temperature. Bringing his book with him, he settled with his back to the wall close to where her head was.

Later that night, or rather early the next morning, Kouta-sensei and Kaito returned with new information. Sending Kaito to fetch Genma, Kouta approached his sleeping student to check her temperature.

"Kouta-taichō, I've come up with a sort of antidote." Genma approached the pair and handed over a small tube with liquid. "It'll counter whatever gets into her stomach and blood. The cough will fade on its own when the irritation of her lungs and throat are over."

"Thank you, Genma." Reaching over to his student's shoulder he gave her a gentle shake, holding in a sigh as she seemed to melt further into her blankets. "Shizuka-chan, we need you to get up and drink something."

"What did you find out?" She rubbed at her eyes and drank the offered glass of water and the antidote, as Genma explained what he found from the plant. "And the vendor?"

"He's been drugged and is safely under the watch of one of my clones. I got him to spill on the whole ordeal, but he was only one of the distributors. Apparently one of the cafes sells a tea made from the leaves."

"I've handled the flowers from the cart, and the ones he had stocked. We've also gotten the tea leaves out, so all we need to clear out is the warehouse." Kaito pitched in as he sat on the other side of Shizuka's futon.

"We're heading there now, Kaito you can stay and Masaru you're with Genma and I. Three will make it quicker."

"I don't need a babysitter…" Shizuka grumbled, "Kaito can go, I'll stay awake and do some reading. Say sensei, you don't happen to have a puzzle book with you, do you?" She sent him a bright smile to which the man rolled his eyes and nodded, unsealing one from a scroll along with a pencil.

"Alright, let us move then. The sooner the raid is finished the sooner we can wrap this mission up." He stood from where he was kneeling and gestured for the other three to follow him, "And Shizuka, don't finish all of those puzzles."

* * *

"So, they were creating different poisons to sell to shinobi?" Shizuka asked as they jumped through the trees on their first day of travelling. "What were the labs like?"

"Surprisingly well equipped." Genma supplied from the back of the group. "Not as good as the ones back home but not bad considering it was a civilian town."

"What other poisons were they making?" Shizuka dropped back to run beside Genma. "Were any of the other projects complete?"

"Curious little thing, aren't you?" He laughed, causing her team to grunt their agreement.

"'Knowledge is power' as Ibiki-san and Inoichi-Oji-san would say. You can never have too much of it." She grumbled, before resuming her normal position after a pointed look from her sensei.

"Eh, sensei, you're not still mad about the puzzle book, right?" Shizuka asked, a teasing glint in her eyes only to receive another narrowed eyed look. "I'll get you a new one… And in my defence, you guys took longer than what I expected."

* * *

"Sensei, we have a little less than a year left to the exams, right? Do you think we should choose one thing to start learning as a trump card?" Masaru asked as they reached the main road leading to the Konoha gates.

"I'm sure we can slot it into our training. Anything you had in mind?" Kouta-sensei glanced back at his students as they exchanged looks between themselves.

"I was thinking of taking my taijutsu a step further with a new style, or maybe some ninjutsu. Kaito was saying he wanted to learn a few new fire jutsus. And Shizuka had been complaining about her 'weak right side' so she wanted to start training to be able to use a tantō with either hand."

"All reasonable requests. Why don't we take tomorrow off to rest and meet back at our usual spot the day after; I'll have some new suitable exercises then."

"Thanks, Sensei!" The three chorused just as the gate came into view, the five shinobi increased their speed just until they were right outside the gates where they slowed to greet the guards and show them their papers.

After a brief meeting with the Hokage and being dragged to the hospital for a checkup, Shizuka made her way home. Just as she got into the compound she sensed someone she hadn't seen in a long while, making her hurry down the path to her house waving at some relatives on the way.

"Tadaima!" She hastily dropped her pack and shoes by the entrance and slid into the kitchen, a bright smile on her face. "Daichi-Oji! You're back!"

Her uncle was a tall man with the traditional Nara looks, with dark hair pulled into a spiky ponytail and dark eyes. He had a scar running along the right side of his jaw and one down from his temple to his eyebrow.

"Zuka!" Daichi pulled her into his right side as he sat at the low table. "How was your mission?"

"It was alright." She coughed and pulled away, handing a small bottle of cough syrup to her mother who narrowed her eyes at the item presented. "Ka-san! I'm supposed to take this for a couple days… You see there was this flower…"

"Why don't you go clean up. I'm sure I'll be hearing about this at dinner." Her mother raised her hand to interrupt her and pointed her to the rooms. "Your father should be home soon. Shika is at Chōji's for the night."

A little over an hour later, the four family members were eating dinner listening to Daichi talk about his past few months. The conversation soon moved to what had happened in the village while he was away and soon to Shizuka and her most recent mission.

"And now I have a sore throat from all the coughing, but the syrup is supposed to sooth that." She shrugged, helping her mother wash and dry the dishes while her father and uncle sat at the table.

"You had to smell the flower." Daichi chuckled while her father just shook his head. "How about the chūnin exams? You're competing in the next ones here in the village, right?"

"Hai! Though sensei promised to help me train with my right hand, and to-san is already helping me with sensing and shadow, I was wondering if there was anything you could teach me too."

"She has the same chakra nature as you." Shikaku raised an eyebrow at his brother who sighed and shook his head.

"Alright. Tomorrow morning, we can train some." Daichi chuckled as she tackled him into a hug from behind, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, Daichi-Oji!" She thanked her mother for dinner and waved the adults goodbye before going to her room to settle in for the night.

"I often think she has too much energy to be a Nara." Daichi sighed once he heard the door to her room slide shut.

"Whenever she is free she'll find a moment to nap," Yoshino chuckled as she sat back down. "And she's always reluctant to wake up and get out of bed."

"And then you hear her sensei or one of her teammates talking about the massive mind-maps she builds for her missions and you forget all about her random bouts of energy."

"A mind-map?" Daichi looked at his brother and sister-in-law in confusion, who then launched into a conversation about Shizuka's 'maps.'

* * *

"You're late!" Kouta-sensei scolded her as she ran into the practice field two hours late for their training.

"Sorry, sensei! Daichi-Oji-San is back in the village and I was spending some time with him!" She stopped in front of her sensei who was only shaking his head.

"Fifty laps and then sparring with Masaru for him to try out a new taijutsu style while I work with Kaito and ninjutsu. If we have time we can work on your right hand, if not we'll start tomorrow."

"But, sensei…" She was interrupted by her sensei pointing to the two boulders with a line dug into the ground which they used as a starting line for laps around the training field.

She grumbled out some complaints and started her laps, ignoring her teammates' chuckles. After her fifty laps, she sat in the shade of the boulders her sensei uses as a seat and took a sip of water, waiting for Masaru to walk over.

"How was training with your uncle? What is it that he's teaching you again?"

"Ninjutsu. To-san has a different nature than I do, so my Daichi-Oji is teaching me wind jutsus. We just started so I can't do much more than infuse my kunai with it to add power."

"It's a good idea to have some elemental jutsus up your sleeve; people won't expect a Nara to use them." Masaru offered her his hand to pull her up, which she gladly took, "Between the three of us we have fire, wind and earth. And I doubt there will be opportunities for your curiosity to get us in trouble."

Shizuka glared and punched his arm causing him to laugh as he set himself across from her, lowering into a defensive stance, waiting for her to do the same. A silent agreement to only use taijutsu passing between them.

Practice went on as usual. In the end, Kouta-sensei didn't have time to train her to use her right hand as it was already getting late in the afternoon. Instead, he gave her some pointers and ideas to start working on her own but promised to practice with her during the next practice.

As the four of them walked through the village, they waved at Kotetsu and Izumo who were returning from guard duty.

"So, tiny, we heard you got into trouble again." Izumo chuckled as they matched their pace to the genin.

"That mission wasn't my fault, and neither was this one." Shizuka huffed and her teammates sent looks to the chūnin that clearly said: 'Totally her fault'.

"She just _had_ to smell the poisonous flower." Masaru teased, pulling the tail of her braid, causing her to throw a punch at his shoulder which he dodged out of the way.

"Whatever." She glared at Masaru who had moved to walk on the other side of Kaito.

"How are your preparations for the exams in six months?" Kotetsu asked once he stopped laughing at their antics.

"We are preparing some trump cards to have just in case." Kaito answered as he gave stern looks to his teammates who were still trying to pinch each other.

"Good idea. From what we remember, you guys can handle yourselves. We look forward to more missions with you three." Kotetsu nodded ruffling Shizuka's hair and patting Kaito's shoulder.

The two Chūnin waved goodbye to the three Genin and made their way to the administration building, while the other three soon split down the streets leading to their own houses.

* * *

 ***Edited 01/2019**

 **Thanks to my beta AmIValid2!**


	10. Preparations

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Poll update:**

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 **If you can't vote through the one on my profile, there is a link there that will take you to one everyone can use.**

 **Thanks! And Enjoy!**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 10 - Preparations**

Shizuka walked to the garden at the back of her house to be greeted by her father's generation of the Ino-Shika-Chō trio on a bench and their kids sitting around the garden.

"To-san, Inoichi-Oji-san, Chōza-Oji-san!" She approached the three men who sat watching their kids in the yard.

"Shizu-chan! Late training?" Chōza smiled as his goddaughter sat on the steps onto the garden reaching out to pluck a leaf from her braid.

"Kouta-sensei is a slave driver. We've been doing speed drills for hours." She scowled, causing the men to exchange amused glances. "At least I'm finally able to parry with my right hand without letting the tantō drop."

"Less than six months to go now is the time to give training all you've got." Inoichi pointed out. "By how much training you've been doing from what your father has told us you'll have quite the arsenal."

"Most of which is probably not exactly public knowledge." Chōza added.

"Dad always says to have a trump card for after a trump card." She shrugged her eyes focusing on her younger sibling who had convinced the other two to take a break from playing.

"Wouldn't expect any less from a Nara." Inoichi chuckled before turning to Shikaku. "Any idea how many are participating this year?"

"Suna, Ame, Waterfall, Grass all have teams. Suna has seven teams, Ame six, Waterfall two and Grass three. Konoha has twenty-two."

"Speaking of Grass, what's going on with the border?" Shizuka glanced back at the adults only to have her father narrow his eyes at her. "Did you really expect me not to know something was going on? Remember who found the hideout in the first place?"

"So it was you." Inoichi sent Shikaku a look before focusing on the girl. "Quite the range you've got now."

"Don't look at me that way, To-san. They already knew I was a sensor just maybe not the extent of it."

"We've been training ever since we found out." Shikaku sighed, "Although Daichi and I are both far beyond our limits in the area now."

"Are you planning on revealing it once you become chūnin?" Inoichi questioned.

"Maybe eventually." She shrugged standing up as the younger kids called for her, "And to-san, I haven't forgotten that you didn't answer my question."

The adults shook their heads as she sat down on the grass with the younger trio around her asking questions about the academy that they would be starting soon.

* * *

"Shizuka-chan!"

"Hey, Hana-chan." Shizuka stopped going over her katas to greet the Inzuka and her ninken. "What bring's you to the Nara compound this early in the morning?"

"My team has a mission, but one of my teammates is off the roster so we needed someone to fill in. They offered someone from your team and Shun refuses to work with Masaru-kun and neither of us really talked to Kaito-kun."

"Ah... Tracking unit, right?" She put one of her tantōs in its sheath that was on her back. And the other on a sheath lying on the ground. "Alright, it'll be good practice. Come inside while I get my pack."

"Sure! We're meeting at the administration building, we still need to debrief."

Shizuka and Hana went inside and got her and the dogs some water and went into her room to get the travelling pack she left ready. She wrote a quick note to her parents explaining where she went and left it on the table.

"So dual blades, hm? Keeping secrets for the chūnin exams?" Hana teased as they walked through the village. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone outside my team."

"Thanks." Shizuka glanced at the older girl. "How is your training coming along? Your team is also competing right?"

"Yeah, we're usually a tracking team so we've increased offensive training." Hana shrugged before grinning at Shizuka, "I heard from ka-san that your team got some interesting missions, infiltration, right?"

"Yeah." She sighed thinking about all the jokes she's gotten from people about her mind-maps.

They continued to make small talk about their teams and some stories until they met up with Hana's team outside the mission's desk.

"Shizuka-chan, thank you for coming. I'm Fujita Rizu." The woman smiled kindly before knocking on the door to go in, "I know this isn't your area, but your sensei has spoken well of you."

"At least we won't have to deal with Masaru-kun's attittude." Aburame Shun nodded in greeting to Shizuka before they started to move into the room

"He's gotten better, even Kaito is speaking up more." Shizuka commented as they lined up in front of the desk.

"Your mission is a C-Rank mission to track down bandits that stole some valuable possessions from a notable family near the border with the Wind country." The Hokage handed the scroll to Rizu who put it in her pocket.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The team bowed and left the office.

As they turned the corner to head to the gates she saw Genma making his way to the building, with a travelling pack on his back probably on his way to deliver a report.

"Not your usual team, tiny." He shifted the senbon around his mouth, holding in a chuckle at her scowl. "Well, Riku-chan I recommend a leash for that one, she has a way to get into trouble that one."

He waved over his shoulder chuckling as he heard Shizuka's indignant huff and the other's amused expressions.

"Ah yes, I've heard about your luck." Rizu-sensei chuckled ushering them towards the gate as they all had their packs already. "Alright team, let's get going."

* * *

Two weeks later Shizuka got back to the village and went straight to the training ground her team usually goes in hopes of catching the end of their training.

She approached Masaru's form as he sat leaning against the boulder.

"Now is not the time for slacking, Masaru-kun." She dropped her bags and sat next to her teammate who jumped at her sudden appearance.

"Oh, thank Kami you're back. It's been hell without you here." He turned to look at her fully. "Without you, sensei has way too much time for me and Kaito which means extra training."

Shizuka snickered as she observed her teammate's ruffled appearance before looking over at Kaito who was sparring against their sensei.

"Sucks to be you." She waved to her sensei who had just now noticed her arrival. "Maybe he just needs a girlfriend."

"Shizuka, how was your mission?" He gave Kaito's shoulder a pat and they walked over to where the two genin were sitting sending a curious gaze at Masaru who choked on the water he was drinking.

"It went well, the bandits were organised but not too skilful." She smiled at Kaito as he plopped himself next to her and pulled out a water bottle from his bag on the ground. "Also I bought you a late birthday gift! Here," Shizuka reached into her pack and pulled out a small book, "It's a puzzle book! Some are quite hard, but don't I haven't actually written in it."

"Thank you, Shizuka-chan." Kouta took the booklet with a smile, ruffling his student's hair and flicking through the booklet. "I think we're done for the day, we start again tomorrow morning at eight."

"Hai, sensei." The genin got up and picked up their bags.

"Sensei, could I talk to you for a moment?" Shizuka met her sensei's curious look evenly. "It's about something for after the chūnin exams."

"Of course."

The two waved the boys off who only spared their teammate a questioning glance before they left the training grounds.

"Rizu-sensei, Shun and Hana know I'm a sensor." She adjusted the strap of her backpack before leaning back against the boulder, "Rizu-sensei noticed it and since she is a sensor herself she noticed quite easily. She gave me several pointers during the mission."

"So what is this about exactly?"

"I know why I'm keeping the full extent of my ability hidden, but over the past few days the question of 'until when' keeps cropping up." Shizuka crosses her arm over her chest as she looks up to the evening sky, "Several people know I'm better at it than what I'm letting on, and I know I can't hide it forever, nor would I want to."

"So you want my advice on the matter," Kouta concluded only getting a hum of agreement from his student. "No matter when it comes up, you will be requested for more missions where a sensor would be beneficial and many end up in ANBU." He observed his student's reaction closely.

"This team because of our specialisation would be looked at for ANBU recruitment anyways." She sighed meeting her sensei's eyes who gave the smallest nod before looking back to the sky, "I have no plans for joining ANBU anytime soon, maybe after jōnin but who knows when I'll make that jump."

"You can refuse ANBU but your ability could be incredibly helpful in higher-ranked missions. You could be promoted first to tokubetsu jōnin if you focus on sensory before being a full jōnin."

"I'll ask Rizu-sensei for more help in the area for now. I might ask for someone to help me hone the skill after the exams but there are other things I'm more interested in." Shizuka pushed off the rock and smiled at her sensei who just hummed in response.

"My troublesome little team is growing up." Kouta smirked at his student who didn't look impressed by his words. "Let's go, you must be tired after your mission."

* * *

A couple weeks after that Shizuka ran into Itachi training his shurikenjutsu, she sat on a high tree branch and watched entranced as he worked on hitting targets all around the small clearing including one behind a boulder.

"It's you again." He said as he landed, turning to look at her.

"Sorry, this is my way home. Pretty impressive." She gestured around to the targets all impaled with a kunai or shuriken dead centre.

"Hn." He narrowed his eyes seeing her contemplate something as she looked around.

"You wouldn't happen to be willing to train with me, would you?" She focused on him and continued when she concluded he wouldn't speak until she explained, "I'm training to use my non-dominant hand but while I have the strength to parry I need speed and dexterity too since those are more suitable for my style."

"Speed and dexterity to compensate for size and physical strength." He tilted his head observing the girl calmly, "What do I get in return?"

"Other than a practice target that will try to keep you from hitting dead centre thus keeping it interesting? I can help you improve your sensing, I watched you for almost an hour before you called me out."

Shizuka grinned internally at his momentary surprise before he nodded.

"Alright, do you have some time now?"

"Jumping straight into it aren't you?"

"You're the one competing in the chūnin exams less than four months from now."

"Fair enough." She shrugged and took out her tantō, "How are we starting, Itachi-senpai?" She enunciated the honorific slowly while Itachi only closed his eyes momentarily before pulling out a handful of shuriken.

"Start with speed, knock these off their path, we'll slowly add more."

With that he threw them at her, giving her a few moments to knock them off their path before body flickering to a different position and throwing more. They continued like this for an hour, Itachi slowly increasing the number if shuriken and by moving to different positions faster.

"Someone's coming." Shizuka knocked the last few of his shuriken and he took in her appearance, full of small cuts littering her arms, legs and torso and one on her cheek.

They only had a few moments notice before Itachi's younger brother burst into the clearing.

"Nii-san! Ka-san asked me to call you as dinner is almost ready and you weren't home." Sasuke ran up to his brother and only then did he notice her, "Hey! Who are you?"

"Hello, I'm Nara Shizuka. Sorry for keeping your brother, he was helping me train." She smiled as the younger boy looked around his older brother to stare at her.

"Staring is rude, otouto." Itachi poked his brother's forehead who scrunched up his nose before nodding over to the girl.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke." He immediately turned back to his brother, "When are you going to train with me, nii-san?"

"Tomorrow, alright?" Itachi then gestured around the clearing, "Do you want to help clean this place up?"

"Hai!" Sasuke then darted to the nearest target and plucked the blades from it.

Itachi sent a stern look Shizuka's direction as he noticed her amused expression. The two then joined the young boy in collecting the fallen projectiles. They collected the projectiles in silence and once finished they set up a time to train again the next day before leaving in the direction of their houses.


	11. Cheat

**/AN\**

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 **Poll update:**

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 **Thanks! And hope you enjoy!**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thoughts'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 11 - Cheat**

The day started like any other. Shizuka woke up did some stretches and laps before showering and helping her mother with breakfast before waking up her younger brother and all but dragging him down to eat.

She got ready and said goodbye to her mother before ushering her younger brother out the door to drop him off at the Yamanaka's house.

"Good luck, nee-san." Shikamaru mumbled as Akira, Ino's mother opened the door to welcome him in.

She walked slowly to the academy building where they were participating in the first part of the chūnin exams. As soon as she went inside she was greeted by a slumping Masaru and an annoyed Kaito.

"After a year and a half training for this why, why must we have a written test?" Masaru groaned as they started making their way to the room to submit their papers.

"It will have an exterior motive, look underneath the underneath, and all that." Kaito shrugged moving to the stairs. "How did you find out it was a written test, Shizuka?"

"Surprisingly not hard to figure out if you look at the history of previous exams." They reached the top of the stairs to see their sensei talking to some other jōnin. "Kouta-sensei, come to wish us luck?"

"More like tell the other two to keep you out of trouble." He teased, walking over to his team. "Knowing you all you'll find trouble anyway so no point in wasting my breath. I know all of you are ready for this."

He led them over to the door and gestured for them to go in. He watched as they closed the door behind them and turned to Rizu who was still waiting for her team.

"Don't look like that, Kouta-kun, I'm sure they will find a way to cause you headaches even after they get promoted."

"Not sure if that is meant to console me or make me feel worse. Those kids don't need more complicated missions."

* * *

"Listen up! My name is Morino Ibiki and I will be the proctor for the first part of the exams." His eyes swept over the contestants before opening the door behind him, "You have been given a number when registering, make your way through the doors and find your seat and stay quiet."

The contestants started slowly moving into the room, team Kouta shared a look and fell to the back.

"Isn't that the guy from T&I?" Kaito mumbled as they walked slowly enough to be the last people to go in.

"Yeah, this will be fun." Shizuka smirked and then let it melt when she glanced at her teammates who looked apprehensive, "Stop worrying it's only a paper."

"Easy for you to say." Masaru pinched her arm before they split up to go to their seats.

Shizuka was in the middle seat of the middle column, while Kaito was a row down slightly to her left and Masaru on the first row down at the front and slightly to her right. From where she sat she could look at both of them but knew Masaru couldn't see her without turning completely and he could only see Kaito if he turned his head slightly.

"In front of you, there are nine questions which you must answer before the hour is up. Be warned, if you are caught cheating enough times the sentinels to the sides will remove you and your team. In the last 15 minutes, you will be given the tenth question." Ibiki didn't yell, but his voice was loud and clear, all participants eying the sentinels lined up nervously.

' _The test is hard enough for there to be so many sentinels? Crap, I'm screwed.'_ Masaru slumped and rubbed his face. He turned his head to the right and was first met with Kaito's raised eyebrow. He didn't risk a look at Shizuka since he would have to turn completely to see her, but he could almost feel her gaze on his back.

Kaito and Shizuka shared a look. They couldn't sign or tap a code to Masaru as he was too far. Shizuka considered using her shadows but she would have to be careful as there were so many people around that could be caught in it and she couldn't exactly see where she was sending it.

"The points are calculated in your teams, you need to be in the top fifty percent of the teams with your points. However, all team members must have at least three questions answered correctly." With one last sweep of the room, he pulled out an alarm. "You can start… NOW."

Immediately everyone turned their papers. Shizuka watched most participants read through the questions except three participants that started jotting down answers immediately. Taking note of their positions she glanced down at the questions.

' _These are difficult, if I want to score high for the team it would take me more than an hour… But just how correctly do I need to answer these? More detailed just the plain answer?'_ She sighed and started jotting down some answers, pulling her hair out of her braid and letting it fall around her, covering her paper. _'People are already starting to cheat but the sentinels haven't done anything only taken notes.'_

She chanced a glance at Kaito who had his head in his hand as he scribbled some answers. She was sure he could get the minimum three questions down and he was sitting next to one of the people that had all the answers if he figured it out he would be fine. She then shifted her attention to Masaru who was hunched over his paper his pencil still on his desk.

She straightened her back and looked up and watched Ibiki as he scanned the room occasionally sharing a look with the sentinels.

"Team three, Sunagakure. Disqualified for cheating, please leave the room." A chūnin from the side called and with a few complaints, the team left.

After that more teams started leaving. Shizuka ignored them she continued staring at Ibiki, who then made eye contact with her, narrowing his eyes but his face blank of any emotion. In response to his blank stare, she smiled and turned her paper around, making sure he saw the gesture and leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, her head tilting slightly to the side.

Teams were leaving around her and the guy sitting to her right was shaking before he got caught cheating. She turned to look at the sentinels and made eye contact with Izumo who only smirked and returned to writing down notes. She glanced at Masaru who had finally picked up his pencil but judging by the tension in his shoulders he wasn't too confident about this. She leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand, twisting a strand of hair between her fingers and then glanced at Kaito who happened to be looking at her.

' _Answers. Next to you. Left side.'_ She typed the code on her cheek but looked away and focused again on Masaru if she can get at least three answers to him they should be able to easily pass. _'Damn, only seven minutes until the last question.'_

While Shizuka tried to come up with a last-minute plan, Masaru had just finished answering the third question, but he was pretty sure at least two of them were wrong. He briefly considered throwing a small concentrated genjutsu over himself so that he could look around more clearly but decided not to risk it. At that moment he froze up but recognizing the feeling of Shizuka's shadow possession he relaxed and allowed her to write down answers, with him putting up some resistance when she tried to answer questions he had already.

Unfortunately for them she only had time to write the answer to the fourth question before the alarm rang. In a second, he was released from the jutsu and he slumped, allowing the pencil to slip from his fingers.

"Before I give the tenth question, there are a couple of conditions that I would like to add." Ibiki turned the alarm off and let his eyes sweep over the twenty-five teams remaining teams from the original forty. "If you choose to answer the tenth question and fail, you can never take the chūnin exams again."

He paused for a moment allowing the candidates to complain.

"If answered correctly, the two team members with the highest score move on to the next round while the other is disqualified. Depending on how well they have answered the other questions, they may or may not be allowed to take the chūnin exams again. However, you may choose to not answer the question and if so your entire team has to leave, but you will be allowed to take part in the exam in the future."

A wave of murmurs passed between the participants as some looked towards their teammates. Masaru looked at Shizuka who seemed to be in her thinking position. Masaru knew that he was probably the one with the lowest score out of the three, he had maybe two questions right, not enough to pass so he turned to look at Kaito who was staring directly at him.

' _Not good.'_ Masaru signed to Kaito who nodded and they both turned to Shizuka who had still not opened her eyes.

Meanwhile, three teams had already quit. The comrades from the people giving up barely protesting. Shizuka felt the gaze of her teammates, but remained with her eyes closed, spreading her senses out to see what happened outside. The teams that left were being split up, one team out the door and two to a different room. She opened her eyes and briefly glanced at Ibiki as his eyes swept over the room finding the members of the two teams that had just given up.

' _It's a test, I can feel people being split outside.'_ She quickly signed the message and looked at Kaito knowing he probably had a higher score than Masaru, and signed, _'This is the tenth question.'_

' _Support each other, probably another test outside then.'_ Kaito signed, exchanging nods between Masaru and Shizuka.

All three rose and without a word left the room, their tests in hand as the other teams had been instructed to do. They walked out and were greeted by some chūnin sitting at a desk collecting the tests.

"Your tests, please." The chūnin reached out to collect the papers, handing two of them to his colleagues as they quickly marked the answers. "Which one of you gave up?"

"All of us did." Kaito stated, sending a look to his teammates before continuing, "Not worth the risk."

The chūnin looked up at the first answer before nodding to the second. They looked between each other before the one who had spoken before locked eyes with Kaito.

"Even knowing you and the girl would have moved on?"

"The chūnin exams are usually a team competition until the last stage, which means it was unlikely to have been an option of dropping a teammate now to continue." Shizuka shrugged and then raised an eyebrow at the chūnin who exchanged nods, "Where we go for the next part?"

She ignored the looks from her two teammates and the amused expressions from the chūnin before they pointed to a door on their left.

"Well done, and good luck." They handed them three pieces of paper and waved them off.

* * *

Team four sat at the back of the room away from the other teams that had passed. Masaru and Kaito sat leaning forwards on two of the seats and Shizuka sitting on the desk, facing her teammates.

"What took you so long to use your little shadows?" Masaru whispered eyeing the other competitors to make sure they weren't listening in. "I wonder what would happen if we all had perfect answers."

"You were far, I would have to go through the aisle and there were too many people, it would have been hard to aim." Shizuka ticked off her fingers and shrugged, "And they would have found a minute difference in our exams and used that."

"So Shizuka you said the next is also a team challenge and it's a survival test?" Kaito questioned quietly too, keeping their knowledge to themselves was more important now than it had been before.

"Yeah, they will give us a few days to complete it too and we're expected to fight other teams." She turned towards the door as she senses Hana and her team arrive to the room, she waves them over before continuing, "You guys took a while to come out."

"We were arguing about the risks, as we all answered all of the nine questions." Kenji said as he nodded in greeting before flicking his black hair out of his eyes.

"We did consider the whole thing being a test in itself and when we saw you guys leave it just confirmed what we were thinking." Hana smiled at Shizuka's annoyed expression.

"Who scored lowest?" The Nara asked as she pushed Masaru to move down the bench so that she could sit, allowing Hana's team to lean on the desk.

"I had half a point less than the other two." Hana shrugged, "But I still had seven questions correct."

The six proceeded to discuss the methods other contestants were using and debating what the next phase would entail. A few minutes later the chūnin who had collected their tests walked into the room and with them Ibiki and some else they didn't recognize.

"Well done to all of you for passing the first stage. Shinobi must see underneath the underneath," Ibiki's voice immediately shut everyone up, the room's focus on him. "And information, knowledge is priceless out in the field, it could be the difference between life and death. This is your proctor for the next stage, good luck."

"Thank you, Ibiki-san." The man took a step forward, his burnt caramel eyes scanning the room, "My name is Seto Gou. The next stage will happen in training ground forty-four, otherwise known as 'The Forest of Death'."

Most of the genin shuffled anxiously, those from Konoha noticeably less than the foreigners. Shizuka took the moment to count how many teams had passed the first stage. _'16 teams passed the first stage. Eight from Konoha, three from Sand, two from rain and grass and only one from waterfall.'_

"For the next stage, you will be given a gate number and a colour. You need to collect the four flags of that colour which are spread around the grounds. You will have six days to collect them and reach the tower at the centre." Gou pulled out what the flags look like. "Four teams to each colour, each will receive a hint to one of the flags, after that it's up to your team to find the rest."

"Tracking. Wonder who will be the first to find everything." Masaru glared at the team in front of him.

"You will have two hours to get whatever supplies you need before you have to submit these forms at gate one of training ground forty-four to collect your information. Good luck."


	12. Track

**/AN\**

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 **Poll update:**

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 **Thanks! And enjoy this massive chapter!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

Chapter 12 - Track

"They coded the initial clue. Seriously?!" Masaru groaned as he sat in front of gate thirteen of the Forest of Death.

"Relax, Masaru. Shizuka and I are already trying to decode it." Kaito said as he and Shizuka stood side by side hunched over a slip of paper in Shizuka's hand. "But the black flag will be annoying to find."

"The other options weren't much better: blue, green or brown." Shizuka glanced up to smirk at Masaru, "Aren't you glad I went on a mission with the tracking team from our year?"

Masaru rolled his eyes before making eye contact with the chūnin at their gate.

"You three might want to get ready. It's about to start." Kotetsu moved to stand to the side of the door.

"Got it!" Shizuka cheered, waving the paper in the air.

' _Not surprised tiny got it that quickly.'_ Kotetsu smirked thinking of his bet with Izumo. _'I hope they do finish in less than four days.'_

* * *

"IT'S ALSO A BLODDY RIDDLE? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" Masaru shouts as they run through the trees. "Ow! Shizuka!"

Said Nara had slapped the back of his head as hard as she could, causing the boy to slightly stumble and thus making him fall to the back of their little formation.

"Shut up, you idiot! We're trying not to be found! And pull your chakra closer, I would still be able to sense it." Shizuka scolds him, stopping for a moment so that they could talk, "Besides, I've got an idea of what it is, but not so sure it will be helpful."

"What does it say." Masaru grumbles, stopping on the same branch as Kaito and her. Kaito gives him the slip of paper with the decoded clue.

 _You will find him in the mountains_

 _And you'll find him in the creek_

 _He has no mouth -_

 _Yet he speaks in every tongue_

 _He has no ears -_

 _And yet will answer every cry_

 _Always having the final word_

"What were you thinking, Shizuka?" Kaito turns to their female member who had pulled out a map of the grounds.

"Simple: echoes. There are caves spread through the ground, but lucky for us there is one cave here known to drive people crazy because they think they are hearing things." She points to a small collection of boulders drawn on the map.

"Fun." Masaru sighs and looks around pointing in the direction of the cave. "Let's go then. Also, anyone else annoyed we have to find a _black_ flag in a pitch _dark cave_?"

"At least Shizuka will have more than enough shadows to terrorize anyone we might run into." Kaito takes the front of their triangle formation again.

"Win some, lose some." Masaru mumbles under his breath.

Team four lept silently from tree to tree, with the two male members occasionally looking back at Shizuka who had her senses extended to the max, making sure no one was within her range. Every now and then she would signal that a team entered or left and whether they were heading towards them and their general position.

They would later agree it was miraculous that they actually made it into the cave without confrontation. Finding the flag inside was another story.

"Kami damn it!" Masaru rips another black cloth from between two rocks. "They are totally fucking with us right now."

"I wish I could see better in the dark, my shadows are pretty useless for the whole 'treasure hunt in the dark' thing." Shizuka groaned before she suddenly stopped and made a thoughtful humming sound, causing both her teammates to snap their head to look at her, that look meant she was up to something and likely could get her and or them killed.

"Shizuka, not the time for a crazy plan. We've been searching for an hour, let's get this done and we might as well camp in here, good shelter and several little nooks to stay hidden." Kaito rubbed his temples, sending the Nara a stern stare.

"But, Kaito-kun! Imagine if I could see _through_ the shadows! I could have eyes everywhere!" She pouted, already pulling out a notebook and pen to write down her newest idea. "Besides all these black cloths will be great to annoy whoever tries to take the flags from us."

"Now, _that,_ is a plan we can work with." Masaru grinned stuffing the cloths into his pouch. "I'm pretty sure we covered every inch of floor in this cave and we've found nothing. You sure there aren't other caves that echo?

Shizuka then facepalms earning herself amused looks which rapidly turned to understanding and annoyance when she pointed upwards.

"We forgot to check the ceilings."

After a long string of curses, Masaru glares at the ceiling as they all jumped to stand on it and continued their search this time upside down. Luckily already having an idea of the layout of the cave it only took them fifteen minutes to find the black flag with a Konoha leaf in silvery stitching.

One down, three to go.

* * *

Team 4 settled for the night in the caves, it would provide shelter and was out of the way and dark so they could easily hide in the shadows. They agreed with a simple rotation for watches during the night and split some tasks. Masaru went out to hunt, Kaito would stay at camp and set things up, including some trip wires while Shizuka would do some scouting.

"Any teams nearby?" Kaito asked as they ate the fish Masaru had caught.

"Two teams, one half a mile North and the other one mile East. We can scout them but I doubt they will have our flags."

"And even if they didn't they probably won't let us go, so we need to stay out of sight and hopefully they will reveal the colour of theirs." Kaito leaned against the rock wall of the gave and closing his eyes. "You two should get some rest, I'll wake you for your shift later Shizuka."

The other two didn't have to be told twice and after some moving around to get comfortable they were fast asleep.

' _Intel gathering without being seen, we can handle that. And although we are all good fighters I still worry. Whenever we've had opponents we knew sensei was always right there, able to help, now we are on our own. No backup.'_ Kaito rolled his shoulder and reached his senses out.

Shizuka had been giving the team tips for sensing, and although they were nowhere near her range they weren't completely ignorant either. The team had settled in one of the nooks of the cave and so they couldn't be seen from the entrance nor would they be heard considering the echo the place had. Kaito and Masaru could sense anyone just past the entrance of the cave and that was good enough for the moment.

For Shizuka's watch, she pinpointed the location of the two teams she had sensed before. She took note of where they were and if they truly were the people she had sensed before. Her watch went by quickly for her and Masaru took over early morning.

"Wake us up early, hopefully, we can sneak around the team to the North before they start moving."

Masaru nodded and waved her off. Sitting up against the wall his eyes trained on the main part of the cave that would lead up to the exit.

' _I wonder if there is any special way they organized the flags around the grounds as to make finding the other teams more likely.'_ Masaru pulled the map Shizuka had shown them earlier onto his lap so that he could trace his fingers across it. _'We all meet at the main tower and if the other teams want to eliminate some competition before the next round they could hang around the tower. Hopefully, we'll avoid that.'_

As Shizuka requested they started moving before sunrise. As they approached the place where the team North of them had been staying they took note that they were from Amegakure. They sat and observed them for a while, luck for once was on their side as they revealed to have a blue flag.

' _Let's move to the next one.'_ Kaito signed over to his team as they stood on different branches.

Shizuka nodded and took started leading them to the team in the east of them. There they found a team from Konoha who had just found their brown flag. Signalling for the team to continue following her, Shizuka led them to the next group she sensed which was further to the East only to find the other team from Amegakure as they started speculation on other team's colours and which ones they would have to fight for a green flag.

' _Stop. I have an idea.'_ Shizuka signed to her team before she jumped to the higher branch of the tree, ensuring they couldn't be seen through the canopy.

"What's up? Don't tell me you think those guys were on to something with the teams?" Masaru asked quietly nodding his head towards the team they had passed not long ago.

"No, they had no concrete evidence." She shook her head while pulling out her map and a pencil. "Sixteen teams were spread across the grounds evenly, with the tower at the centre. We have gone one to the next team to our 'left' and now two teams to the 'right'. We have seen all colours except our own." Her expression was expectant, waiting for them to deduce what she had.

"You think the colours were spread in a pattern. So that no two colours would be next to each other." Kaito was the first to catch up, getting a nod from Shizuka he continued, "That means, following this direction, assuming they haven't already mixed orders with other teams, then we should meet another blue team before possible reaching the next black on."

"Well done, Kaito. If I had a prize I would've given you one."

"Not a dog. But thanks for the sentiment."

"Alright. So how far is the next team?" Masaru piped before Shizuka could respond.

"Not too far, they are actually heading this way, and guess what: _six signatures._ " She smirked before making her way down to the forest floor and calmly walking East.

They didn't have to wait long before Team Rizu appeared above them.

"Please tell me you don't have a blue flag. I only want to fight you guys in the final round." Hana called down to them.

"Black." Shizuka pulled the flag from her pouch to show them. "We do have information for you guys. A team from Amegakure little more than a mile and a half in that direction has a blue flag."

"Ah great, thanks! That narrows it down." Kenji said. After exchanging some looks with his teammates he looked back down at them, "We tracked a Suna team with the black flag half a mile North from us a while ago, they shouldn't have gone far, but that was the general direction they were in."

Shizuka nodded and looked in the direction he gestured towards before nodding and thanking them for the exchange. The two teams quickly said goodbye and proceeded in the appointed directions, Shizuka taking the lead to track their 'targets'.

Team four took to the trees once more with Shizuka leading, as she reached her senses out to find the Suna team and luckily they hadn't moved much. As they came closer to the team they realised there was a battle going on.

As they hid amongst the leaves, they quickly identified the team from Suna and one from Grass.

"We should wait it out. Let them tire themselves and take Suna's flag once it is over." Masaru whispered to his teammates who all stood on the same branch.

"Yeah. Spread a little, keep within eyesight of each other but hidden from them." Shizuka pointed to a bush for Kaito and a hollow tree trunk for Masaru before gesturing to some tree roots where she would hide.

They broke apart silently and turned to the fight. Each taking note of the other team's weakness and strengths.

' _Even split. Suna has a wind user and an earth user, and then a weapons user. I can take the wind user with it being weak against my fire. Shizuka could take the weapons user easy, which leaves Masaru with the earth user for a earth vs. earth battle.'_ Kaito thought as the two teams battled for what was unlikely to be the same flag.

' _So the pattern of flag distribution is still correct. After Suna takes Grass' flag we will need to act quickly, before they have a chance to rest.'_ Shizuka glances down at her teammates who observed the match intently. _'They probably know who their opponents would be, wouldn't be hard to assume who is best to fight who.'_ She looked back to the battle to see one of the Grass genin leave an opening in his defence.

' _Damn. A costly mistake.'_ Masaru winced as the weapons specialist dashed forward and slashed the Grass nin, forcing his teammates to come closer. _'The Grass girl is a medic, but no way can that guy fight, and the other one can't fight against three at the same time.'_

Team four sent each other a look and some signalling later, they switched positions so that Masaru and Kaito were behind the Suna genin and Shizuka made her way around to be behind Grass' genin.

They waited patiently as Grass offered their flag to Suna who took it. Shizuka narrowed her eyes as one of the Suna ninjutsu users reached for their kunai pouch. With a well-aimed senbon, she hit his wrist and jumped down in front of the Grass team.

"You guys have a brown flag, useless to us. Get out of here, Suna seems to have something we need." Shizuka pulled a black cloth from her pouch fingering the material before pushing it inside her weapon's pouch. "Now, it's getting kind of late so if we could finish this quickly so that I can take a nap, that would be great."

'You wish, kid." The dirty blond earth user rolled her eyes as she stared Shizuka down. "Where are your teammates, did they get tired of babysitting you?"

"I'm tired of babysitting them." The Nara smirked pulling out one of her tantō, "Keep an eye out, our team is kind of a master of last minute plan changes."

And with that, she dashed forward full speed to lock blades with their weapons specialist's katana. The other two ninjutsu users looked around searching for her team that they didn't notice the Grass nin leave the clearing.

" _ **Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!"**_ _(Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu)_ Masaru yelled as he pulled the earth user down to the ground, leaving only her head above it. "Good luck trying to get out of that." Masaru smiled smugly down at her before turning to the wind user Kaito had just engaged in battle.

"Earth and Fire, your teammates have an advantage against mine." The weapons specialist, Doi, stated as he dodged one of her stabs and struck downwards with his own katana.

"Not to mention you're already one down." Shizuka parried the blow and twirled around him, locking eyes with Masaru for a second before kicking the back of Doi's knee, making him stumble forwards. "Got you!"

Doi turned around, leaning heavily on his uninjured leg and realised too late that he had landed just under the shade of the tree. Before he could take a step away from it, Shizuka had already completed the handsigns and her shadow connected to that of the trees, binding Doi to her.

She calmly reached down as if to grab a kunai from her right leg, which she didn't have considering she was left-handed, and instead started emptying out Doi's pouch.

"Found it! Masaru, knock him out would you." Shizuka called to her teammate who dashed over and pulled Doi underground with the same jutsu he used before, Shizuka releasing Doi just seconds before he was pulled down.

"Shizuka, present for you." Kaito pushed the wind user backwards until Shizuka could trap him in her shadows, and then allowed Masaru to pull this one down as well. Leaving the three Suna genin with just their heads above the ground.

"Now, we don't want you causing us any trouble, so I have a little gift for you three." Shizuka cheerily reached for her pouch on her lower back and pulled out three small light grey balls.

Without a warning she threw one at each head and pulled the boys a safe distance back, smirking at their wide eyes as smoke enveloped the Suna team.

"They won't wake up until that leaves their system. I'm estimating a little over a day and a half considering just one of those balls would have spread enough to knock all three of them out."

"What the hell have you been up to?" Masaru just stares as the Suna team started coughing before they went silent, the greyish cloud still hung around them, though team four seemed to be just outside the radius.

"After the whole flower incident, I decided to keep a poison and sedatives in my pouch as well as a general antidote." Shizuka shrugged as she stood from the now unconscious Suna team.

"Please tell me you haven't been experimenting." Kaito groans at the mere thought of having Shizuka explore poisons.

"Too troublesome. They have to keep paperwork for everything they do and crosscheck it amongst themselves for new discoveries and combinations. Genma recommended those, so I got my dad to get me some."

"At least we don't have to worry about you experimenting with them... That would just be a nightmare." Kaito relaxed minutely, while Masaru just looked bewildered.

"You find record keeping a nuisance but you don't mind building an entire room-sized mind-maps and sorting connections for any of our cases?" Masaru looks bewildered at her response.

"I'd rather do puzzles over paperwork." Shizuka deadpanned as she folded the second flag neatly before handing it to Kaito for him to keep it,

"Such a Nara." Her teammates intone together, bringing small smiles to all their faces.

' _Two down, two to go.'_ Shizuka sighed as she jumped to a high branch and turning North. With the second day coming to a close they would have to find shelter and discuss their next plan of action since the teams are unlikely to have kept the order of the gates as they fought each other.

* * *

"Something's wrong with our luck." Masaru stated as he suspiciously eyed the black flag with silvery stitching of a Konoha symbol, "How the hell did we get here before whatever team was supposed to grab it?"

The black flag was stuck to the underside of a root they had chosen to use as shelter from the storm. It was already noon of the third day and they had counted exactly two teams before coming across it, so the pattern theory was definitely confirmed.

"I guess luck is on our side for once." Shizuka grabbed the flag and once again folded it neatly before giving it to Kaito to put away.

"The other team could have been intercepted by another team." Masaru suggested as he settled down on a dry patch of dirt.

Team four shrugged it off and settled to wait for the storm to pass. None of them were willing to question their streak of good luck. They agreed on a rotation for watches so that they could get some sleep.

It was still early afternoon when the storm stopped and so deeming it worth to get a head start on their last flag, they emerged from the roots once Shizuka had pinpointed a new team to investigate.

"Those are some weird tracks." Shizuka pointed towards the ground where several continuous lines of indents were on the ground. "I wonder what made them."

"I don't." Masaru mumbled but was completely ignored by his teammate as she jumped to the ground to get a closer look at the tracks.

"We've been so lucky lately, I wonder if this would continue that or if it would restore order to our bad luck."

"Kami damn it, Shizuka, don't jinx us." Masaru groaned as his teammate pointed towards a hole in the ground.

Shizuka went to retort but stumbled back as a giant centipede came crawling out of the hole. Masaru and Kaito who had just landed behind her sent her piercing glares as if saying 'are you happy now?'.

"Fuck! I think I spoke to early." Shizuka groaned as she dodged one of many stampeding legs of the giant insect.

"You think?" Kaito's tone dripped of sarcasm as he shifted his stance, preparing for a fight.

"Kaito just burn the damned thing!" Masaru jumped to avoid the creature's head, before jumping onto one of the trees.

"I'll send a gust of wind to make it larger." Shizuka flipped backwards to stand at Kaito's shoulder. "Now!"

' _Well, that's three down, one more to go.'_ Shizuka groaned as she collapsed next to her team on the river bank some distance away after running to escape any attention the smoke would attract.

* * *

Later that afternoon, team four passed the tower and didn't sense any teams nearby, but they passed a Grass team with a green flag and a Konoha team with a blue flag.

"Shizuka, any ideas on what team we're going to face for our last flag?" Kaito asked from the middle of their line. "Or at least a list of possible teams?"

"Sixteen teams passed, eight from Konoha, so likely two for each colour. Three from Suna, so one colour won't have a team. Two from Ame, so two colours won't have a team. Same for Grass. One team from Waterfall so three won't have a team." Shizuka slowed down slightly, the three of them falling into a triangle formation so that they could hear better.

"We passed the two Amegakure teams already, one had a blue flag and the other a green. We also passed a Konoha with Brown. Hana's team has blue. And we got our second flag from a Suna team who was with a Grass team with a brown flag." Kaito listed off the teams they had passed early on in the exam.

"We also passed those other two earlier today, Konoha green and Suna blue." Masaru pitched in, before he went over the list, "So, we have, two black, three blue, two brown and two green. The teams we don't know about are five from Konoha, one from Waterfall and one from Suna."

"That means that we will either fight a Konoha team or the Waterfall team since we already fought a Suna team. It will only depend on who didn't make it to their flag." Shizuka concluded sending a small smile over her shoulder. "We should find a place to rest, we won't be any good in a fight if we're tired. Hopefully by late afternoon tomorrow, we'll be on our way to the tower."

" Three days, maybe four if we don't get to the tower tomorrow afternoon. Not a bad time." Kaito commented as he adjusted the strap of his katana.

The trio lapsed into silence as they approached the river on the other side of the tower. After making sure there weren't any teams in the immediate area around them, they jumped to the forest floor in search of a shelter to settle in.

"We'll leave tomorrow before dawn again, we can skip other teams that aren't from Konoha or Waterfall." Shizuka supplied as they settled under a fallen tree, its foliage providing side coverage.

"Strategy-wise, we sticking with the usual?" Masaru asked as he slid into his sleeping bag.

"Split them up between ranges, but keep an eye out for the styles in case they are more suitable for someone else." Kaito nodded as he too prepared to sleep, "And when possible push them into Shizuka's shadows for a quick end. Shizuka, you have more of those paralyzers?"

"Yup." She stated cheerily patting her leg pouch. "Get some sleep, I have a feeling it'll be a long day tomorrow.

* * *

Just as planned they moved out before dawn. Shizuka led them around a Suna and a Grass team which didn't have their colour and continued moving through the training grounds. Shizuka made it a practice of sort to remember what their chakra felt like so that they didn't go after them again and so far it had worked. She sensed Hana's team going in the opposite direction as them, but as they were a mile apart they didn't meet.

It was just past noon when Shizuka identified a team she hadn't before and heading their way they managed to sneak up on the Waterfall team.

Or at least they thought they did.

The girl on their team threw a barrage of shuriken at the trees they were in forcing them to dodge and reveal their locations.

"Look's like we've got company." A boy with sandy blond hair and dark eyes spoke will a dull tone, his eyes flickering between the members of team four.

"As to not waste our time, care to confirm your flag colour?" Kaito spoke up after a minuscule nod from Shizuka.

The other boy, who had dark green hair and eyes pulled a black flag from his pouch, before stuffing it back inside. Masaru pulled a black piece of fabric from his pouch and showed it to them before putting it away.

"Great! Now to the fun part." Shizuka slapped her hand and drew her tanto, spinning it deftly between her fingers.

The girl who had thrown the shuriken before drew a handful of the blades. The green haired boy took a step forward and into a taijutsu stance, while the blond boy remained as he was, his eyes carefully analysing the Konoha genin.

With their targets identified, team four settled into their formation for the fight. Shizuka would take the weapons specialist, Kaito would go for the blond boy for what would likely turn out to be a ninjutsu battle, and Masaru would engage in a taijutsu battle.

Shizuka pushed all her focus to the dark haired girl in front of her. Just as she noticed a twitch of the girl's fingers she also heard the sound of running. The green haired boy and Masaru started trading blows while Kaito and his opponent simply watched each other.

"Masaru, projectiles, watch out." Shizuka ran closer to the boys and parried some of the projectiles sent their way, while Masaru and the boy jumped out of range. Just as they were about to land the ninjutsu user weaved through handsigns and launched a water bullet towards Masaru, who had no way of dodging.

' _Well, shit. Water user.'_ Kaito ran backwards and caught Masaru after he was hit by the water.

"Masaru we need to switch opponents. In ninjutsu, I'm no good against a water user." Kaito whispered to his teammate before nodding to Shizuka who took a stance between the weapons girl and them, ensuring she could knock the projectiles off before they reached them.

"Ninjutsu got it." Masaru glared at the water user who just cocked an eyebrow at the two Konoha boys. "Let's start that again, shall we?"

This time, they were prepared for the weapons user to use her projectiles to push the boys off balance allowing her teammates to attack. Shizuka kept using small gusts of wind to protect her teammates when she couldn't physically knock the projectiles away with her tantō. She could see the brown haired girl getting annoyed at the lack of her success, even when her teammates tried to catch Shizuka off balance, Kaito and Masaru would interfere.

Kaito who ended up against the taijutsu guy had to rely on speed because the other guy was obviously stronger. Knowing he wouldn't have to worry about stray projectiles and water bullets allowed him to focus completely on his opponent.

Masaru, on the other hand, was struggling to keep up with the water user. His advantage was that he was an earth type and thus strong against water. However, ninjutsu still was his weak point and in a battle totally focus on it was way out of his comfort zone.

After making an earth wall to protect himself from a water attack, Masaru took a moment to take stock of his chakra and glance over his teammates. Shizuka was fine, several scratches from weapons he hadn't seen hit her, but she wasn't showing any signs of slowing down. Kaito was panting but he too seemed alright, covered in bruises more likely but otherwise fine. Himself, on the other hand, was reaching uncomfortably low levels of chakra.

"Masaru, not the time to slack!" He heard Shizuka growl from his side, he glanced up to see her standing in front of him palm outwards after blowing a gust to keep the weapons from him. "You're low on chakra, this girl is showing no signs of slowing down with the damned projectiles. Take the taijutsu guy, I'll handle the ninjutsu user."

"But Kaito..."

"He'll know to go over to the girl." She smiled down at him and gestured towards the wall he had created, "Let's get back to it. Oh, and give this to Kaito, he'll know what to do."

After the second switch of opponents, the battle seemed to become even more vicious.

Masaru took on the taijutsu user. He wasn't as fast as Kaito but still faster than his opponent and managed to land some heavy blows to the green haired boy. However, he could feel the bruises forming all over his body. He was pretty sure he cracked a rib, and his ankle was slightly swollen. _'This needs to end quickly, this guy is already getting the upper hand.'_

Kaito ended up engaging the girl with his katana, forcing her to pull out a sword of her own. While she was faster than Kaito, he was stronger a reversal of the conditions of his last fight. Luckily he was rather used to fighting someone faster than him, as he often sparred with Shizuka who would dodge his blows and not even seem like she had moved at all. He jumped apart from the girl as she tried to stab him with a kunai she had pulled from her pouch.

Shizuka was blowing holes through the water attacks, just wide enough for her to slip through unscathed. She glanced over to see Kaito reach for his pouch and smirked. _'Time to cut this short.'_

At the same moment, Masaru gave a shout of pain as he was sent rolling across the clearing after getting kicked in the ribs. With a slight curse, Shizuka jumped over to block a follow-up punch that was probably to knock him out.

Landing in front of the green haired boy she blocked the punch and twisted around him, clenching her jaw as the boy shifted his hand to grip her wrist and twisted. She turned her torso around and kneed the boy in the small of his back causing him to stumble only to be gripped by Masaru so that he couldn't stand up again. Weaving through handsigns she trapped him in her shadow possession.

"Masaru, reach inside my pouch. I should have some of those balls." Shizuka whispered her eyes darting between the other two opponents who were being kept away by Kaito.

Masaru did as she asked and within moments the guy was surrounded by a plume of smoke. Shizuka helped Masaru to his feet and they lept out of range of the smoke. She put him by one of his walls and whispered her plan to him.

Moments later the remaining two waterfall faced off against Kaito and Shizuka. Kaito was the least injured but he wouldn't do well against the water user so they continued with their normal opponents.

Kaito pulled out the kunai Shizuka had gave him along with several others. With a quick glance at his female teammate, he threw them a followed right behind them. Weaving the same handsigns as before Shizuka latched her shadows onto the wire attached to her kunai and followed them until it's shadow connected to that of the girl. As soon as they did she trapped the girl in the shadows and Kaito who was just beside her threw a paralytic bomb at her before putting himself out of the range of the smoke.

Before she fully released the shadows she had the wind knocked out of her as she was slammed into a tree by a water bullet she hadn't seen coming.

She stood up and swayed slightly, her back was one big bruise and her head pounded where it knocked into the tree. Kaito was positioned defensively over Masaru who was having trouble standing up.

On the other side of the clearing, the green haired boy had gotten his teammate out of the smoke cloud, but Shizuka knew that as long as she got one breath of it she would be out for an hour or so.

She stumbled over to her teammates as they watched the green haired boy put his female teammate beside the other unconscious boy. Team four stood still, watching carefully their bodies tensed and ready to dodge anything the waterfall genin threw their way.

"Shizuka, one guy left but I can't do it on my own. You think you can pull off another jutsu or two?" Kaito asked quietly his eyes trained on the water user who was the only one still awake.

"It's three against one. You should give your flag up." Masaru called once Shizuka didn't answer.

"That would never happen," Greenie said his face set in a scowl. "Two if you can barely stand and the other has been avoiding a fight with me like the plague. Let me guess fire type?"

Team four scowled back. No one should doubt them. They were advanced for genin this battle simply wasn't the best conditions they could have had. From where Shizuka knelt on the ground, she took a moment to look around the clearing, analysing the location.

There were projectiles all around, some crumbling earth walls and several puddles from the water jutsus. Some trees had cuts across their barks from her wind gusts. The waterfall team was smack middle of the clearing, far from any of the walls and away from any shadows she could use.

And by the way, the guy was looking at the kunai she was sure he figured out what they did, which meant they needed a new tactic. The question was if she should pull out a trump card this early on. Sure no one was around, but they weren't going to kill these genin so they could tell what happened. And she knew if someone was good enough at concealing their chakra they could still sneak up on her, especially if she was to focus on the battle completely.

"Shizuka, looks like you have the first move." Kaito murmured, his eyes darting to the side towards his teammate who was still silently observing the field.

"Use a fire jutsu, I'll amplify it with the wind." She stumbled to her feet, stepping slightly in front of Masaru to stand by Kaito's left shoulder. "He'll use water to counter, I need steam and a lot of it. Masaru you think you can pull off one more wall?"

"You want me to block the steam from being carried with the wind?" Masaru shifted so that he had both his arms free instead of supporting him and scoffed at his teammates raised eyebrows, "Kind of common sense, besides I've learnt a lot from you two. Your smarts are rubbing off."

"I'm glad." Shizuka's replied dryly, before nodding over to Kaito who started his handsigns soon following with her own.

" _ **Katon: Hiuchi Yagura"**_ _(Fire Release: Flint Yagura)_

" _ **Fūton: Senpūken"**_ _(Wind Release: Whirlwind Fist)_

Immediately after greenie, as Shizuka started calling him, sent a wave of water their way, and right where they met: steam.

' _We need more, but we need a plan B too.'_ Shizuka exchanged a look with Kaito who seemed to have come to the same conclusion because a moment later we weaved the same handsigns, Shizuka noticing the immediately stronger pull on his chakra, _'Hm, I wonder if I could identify release styles as they prepare to launch it...'_

Masaru who had already created a curved wall of earth to keep the steam from blowing away because of the wind gave a harsh pinch to Shizuka's shin, startling her out of her thoughts.

Shizuka looked down to see Masaru holding her kunai that was attached to the wire, _'Since when has he been pulling that towards us?'_ She smiled in thanks and promptly threw the kunai towards the greenie and by the sound of his curse and the sound of someone landing on the ground meant he dodged instead of blocking.

As she started weaving more handsigns, Kaito reached for a paralytic bomb and dashed into the steam, their training in sensing chakra coming in handy considering he couldn't see a palm in front of him.

It didn't take him long to find greenie, as he couldn't move having been trapped in Shizuka's shadows. With a quick flick of his wrist the bomb went off and he dashed back towards his teammates.

"He's still conscious, holding his breath, I'd guess." Shizuka shrugged as he came out of the steam cloud. "He's the one that has the flag, I'm already low, I'll need to end this faster."

"Do it, we can give them a heavy dose of the paralytic and move on, just enough to recover and get us to the tower. It's only a little over half a day to the tower."

Shizuka stood and walked closer to her target, soon enough the boy had walked closer as well, mirroring her actions.

"I'm glad I'm left handed now," Shizuka smirked, pulling out a senbon, while her opponent simply copied the gesture and came up empty-handed. "Have a nice nap! I know I will."

With a flick of her wrist, the senbon went hurtling towards the boy, hitting him in a non-vital point in the neck. She then bore down on the remaining chakra and kept him in place until she felt his body start to slump.

With the boy unconscious, Kaito dashed over and got the flag, storing it safely with the other one he had. He helped Shizuka and Masaru over to the other two unconscious genin and gave them an extra dose of the paralytic to ensure they would be out for long enough for them to make it to the tower.

With all four flags secured, team four started to make their way to the tower. They didn't go far, with both Masaru and Shizuka too tired to move much. Kaito wrapped Masaru's ankle and ribs, and he took first watch, allowing his teammates to rest but kept checking on Shizuka for her concussion.

* * *

Team four arrived at the tower a little after noon of the fourth day, much to Kotetsu's joy and Izumo's disappointment. The genin would later find out from their sensei that the two had a bet going on when they would finish the second phase.

They were the second team to arrive, the first being Team Rizu and mere minutes after they did one of the Suna teams arrived as well.

They weren't really surprised Team Rizu had finished early morning of the fourth, they did, after all, have an advantage of tracking. And team four did lose a couple hours to rest after their battle against the waterfall team, so they were happy with how they came out of the test.

Later that day, a team from Grass showed up completing all four colour teams.

Soon after they called for all the participants to line up with their teammates facing the proctors from the two exams, their senseis, a couple chūnin that helped out and the Hokage.

Shizuka still not being fully recovered from their fight, her head still pounding, _'Having a concussion sucks.'_ She grimaced as she placed a hand on the spot where she hit the tree. She stood at the front of her team, being the shortest she wouldn't have been able to see anything otherwise.

Much to her dismay, Kaito pinched her shoulder, obviously wanting her to at least try to pay attention. He was however considerate of her bruises and went for a place that wasn't injured.

"The last phase of the exams will be a tournament between the remaining participants. The first round will be a three-way fight from which only one person will move on. The ones who do move on are in a regular one-on-one semi-final, and whoever wins that will compete in the final." The Hokage's voice echoed in the room, which looked like an arena with a balcony all around interrupted only by a stature to one side. "Winning does not mean promotion, and losing does not disqualify you for a promotion either. Now for the proctor of the third stage, here is Namiashi Raidō."

"Thank you, Lord Hokage." Raidō stepped forward after bowing to the Hokage and stood in front of the genin looking between each group as two other chūnin pulled in a large board that was covered by a white sheet. "The selections of your battle groups has already been made, it was done in such a way that none of you is in the same group as your current teammates. These will take place in a month's time, more details will be given to your sensei's to pass on."

Raidō then turned around to the board and pulled the sheet down revealing the first round, three-way matches.

Group A

Matsuda Kenji – Konoha

Hitotose Kaito – Konoha

Akagi Chikaru – Suna

Group B

Inuzuka Hana – Konoha

Ishii Aika – Suna

Mareo – Grass

Group C

Akiyama Masaru – Konoha

Aoki Biro – Suna

Ito Tadaaki - Grass

Group D

Aburame Shun – Konoha

Nara Shizuka – Konoha

Sano Cho - Grass

' _Ah, how fun, an Aburame straight off the bat. It's going to be a long, troublesome month.'_


	13. Training

**Hey!**

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 **Thanks! And enjoy this massive chapter!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 13 - Training**

After a visit to the hospital to take care of their injuries, team four waved each other goodbye and promised to catch up at least once or twice a week while they each prepared for the final round.

As she walked out of the hospital she was greeted by her father who had been leaning on the wall by the door, obviously waiting for her.

"You're in the finals. Well done." He took her backpack from her and ruffled her hair as they started walking home, "How was it?"

"The first test was easy, the second started off too good to be true and we got a nice beating for the last flag." She shrugged, her eyes darting to her wrapped wrist. "There is so much I need to do this month…"

Shikaku chuckled as his daughter slumped, reaching to ruffle her hair some more.

"Daichi is away on a mission but he should be back next week. I can train with you and probably get you some scrolls to start off."

"Thank you, To-san." Shizuka sighed and leaned her head on her father's shoulder as they walked the rest of the way home in silence.

Shizuka waved to some passing clansmen and her father nodded in greeting as they approached their house, announcing their arrival to whoever was home.

The family of four had dinner together, as usual, each talking about their past few days, including the fact that Shikamaru was now signed up to start the academy in two months. As her brother moved upstairs to sleep, Shizuka helped her mother do the dishes while her father enjoyed some tea.

"To-san, besides the wind and shadow jutsus I'll probably be doing this month, do you think I should add a third focus?"

"Splitting your focus might not be beneficial, however, we both know the advantages of having a trump card, so tell me how many of those do you currently have."

Shizuka thought back on what's happened so far. Hana's team knew of her dual tantōs, but no one else. She had wind jutsus which might already be known, sensing was again something only her team and Hana's team was aware of, so she had two maybe three trump cards.

"Two or three depending on others leaking information." She replied after a few minutes thinking.

"You would have three battles until the finals _if_ you get that far. That's one per each round, you think that's enough?"

Her father had a way of teaching through questioning her. He would rarely give her an answer straight but instead make her work for it. Eventually, he might give her his opinion or a final answer but only after she thought it through herself.

"The battle themselves don't matter, right? It's about showing what you can do, so I could just show everything in the first round if I find myself in a losing situation."

"True, but a chūnin knows when to act and when to hold back, revealing all your secrets would cause problems for later rounds if you do pass."

"Fine, but I shouldn't really reveal more than one at a time, the least people expect a trump card the more impressive it is likely to seem."

Shikaku smirked at his daughter's reply but hid it with his teacup. And waited to see if she was going to continue.

"So, if I play my cards right, I can try to pass the first round with only revealing one or none, second round I can use two more and the last round, if I train enough, I can have two or three more, meaning the closer to the final the more serious I'd be investing in the fights."

"Which would mean you know that revealing things too early aren't ideal and you save your best moves for the arguably better opponent. Simple, right?" Shikaku watched as his daughter sat at the table and rubbed her eyes.

"But that means so much more training, not to mention I need to figure out my opponents and who I'm more likely to fight against in later rounds." She leaned her head on her hand and stared at her father as if assessing him, while he watched on amused at her expression.

"So how are you going to start?"

"New clan jutsu training with you. Maybe try out a new element, I know Kaito was planning on learning water jutsus eventually, I was thinking lightning to annoy Masaru and it would work well with Kaito eventually."

"I'll get some scrolls on lightning release, I know someone who might have a couple. I already have some clan techniques in mind for you. Say that makes one new trump card, our clan's techniques are something everyone expects from a Nara."

"Ah, well I had this idea during the second exam: when people make the handsigns they are focusing their chakra, gathering it before releasing. I can sort of tell how big or taxing the technique is depending on how much they gather, but also everyone's chakra reflects personality and style."

"You want to test if you can tell what type of elemental release they will be using." He deduced, to be honest, he was sceptical but not totally surprised. "That would be an incredible ability to have, but as you know you are well beyond my capabilities as a sensor when you actually try."

"Do you think we could test it a little? I'd need to have at least one person of each to get a feel for how each type feels before I can start using it in a fight."

"I'll get someone to help with it. Now, being a chūnin means leading missions, so I expect for us to play a game of shogi per day unless I am too busy with work, in which case I'm sure someone in the clan will be willing to play."

"Am I going to have any free time at all?" Judging by her father's raised eyebrows free time was unlikely to be something she would come by often in the following month.

* * *

The first week of her training was entirely dedicated to a new clan technique and reading on lightning jutsus. She had also spent some time scouting out the competition alongside Masaru and Kaito.

The boys were more than willing to split up some 'targets' and going off to see what was going on with them. The only ones that were pretty much immune to their spying was the other team from Konoha, one reason being they trained within their compounds so getting to them was complicated and another because they kind of already knew what to expect from them, they were after all in the same year.

Just as the first week came to a close, her uncle showed up from his mission and promised to stick around until the end of the finals unless an emergency mission came up. And so, the day after he arrived she started training some new wind jutsus with him.

"Shizuka, focus!" Her uncle tugged at the end of her braid as he walked around her observing as she gathered some chakra around her.

Shizuka frowned her concentration dropping even further. She opened her eyes and dropped the ram seal. She heard her uncle sigh and move to sit down on the steps to the back porch.

"Come and sit here for a moment." Daichi patted the spot next to him and passed her a canteen of water once she sat down, "What's on your mind, Zuka?"

"My group is rather odd, Shun has his bugs, which I can easily see becoming a problem, even with the wind to knock them off it won't be easy." Shizuka glanced at her uncle from the corner of her eyes, "The girl Cho, she's _fast_ I don't think I'm fast enough she's also a wind user, from what Hana told me."

"You are collaborating with them?"

"She's the only one from Konoha in her group, and since my team scouted everyone we decided to share the info on the people with the other Konoha teams, they gave us info they had as well."

"Your father has more experience with the Aburame, I'm sure he has already imparted some wisdom on that front. If you're worried about the other girl's speed, train to become faster."

"I'll ask To-san to get me some adjustable weights…" Daichi groaned when he saw the look on his niece's face, it read 'I have an idea' and those never turned out how people expect them to.

"And here I thought we'd arrive to see you giving training your all…" A voice sounded from the door to the house.

"Chōza-Oji-san! Inoichi-Oji-san! Kouta-sensei!" Shizuka grinned up at the three men who were soon followed by her father onto the porch. "Not that I'm not happy to see you all, but why are you here?"

"We heard you had a little theory you wanted help with." Kouta spoke as he walked out to the field behind the house. "Your dad asked us to help out, so here we are."

"Ah, the elemental release theory." Shizuka hummed as she turned to Inoichi, "Inoichi-Oji, you're a sensor too, right?"

"Not as sensitive as you, but yes, I am. I have never noticed what you described to your father, so I'm rather curious about it."

"Alright, so how are we doing this?"

"We will perform jutsus and you get to just observe and see what you can tell from each." Her father guided her to the middle of the field and turned towards the others. "To make this fair, we won't tell you who is doing what, and you won't look at our handsigns either. So, close your eyes and get ready."

Shikaku then walked over to the adults who had lined up facing the young Nara.

"We'll aim the jutsus away from you, and we'll let you know on whose chakra to concentrate on." Chōza stated before turning to Shikaku and whispering so that only the adults were here, "Aren't we missing a lightning release?"

"It shouldn't come as a surprise he isn't here yet. He'll show up eventually." Kouta answered before he turned to his student who was already shifting on her feet anxious to get started, "Alright, Shizuka, I'm going first."

Shizuka narrowed her senses on her sensei's chakra signature as he gathered a small amount of chakra. She was vaguely aware of Inoichi's own senses brushing against hers, feeling for what she was trying to focus on. Her sensei had an earth affinity but she was aware he could use fire and water as well. It was kind of cheating to narrow it down that way knowing she was supposed to feel and not guess.

With that in mind, she focused on the regular, smoothly flowing chakra her sensei was gathering.

"Water." She opened her eyes to see her sensei release a small stream of water to her side.

"You weren't completely focused on that one." Inoichi pointed out, "I think I get what you said about the size of the jutsu though, his chakra didn't stir too much."

"It's odd. Sensei has an earth affinity, so when he uses water he has to convert it so it didn't _feel_ like his usual chakra."

"So you kind of cheated." Daichi chuckled shaking his head, "Alright, at least you kind of know how and where to look for it. Eyes closed."

Shizuka obeyed and with another signal Chōza took a step forward, calling for Shizuka to concentrate on him. This time it was somewhat easier. Chōza's chakra was naturally warm and welcoming, identifying it was easy as he used to babysit her often when she was young, especially after he found out he would be a father himself.

"Fire. He's just gathering his chakra, no conversion, so its an affinity."

"Alright, let's make this a little harder. We won't tell you who will perform, you have to describe what it feels like and we will speed up the process on our end." Shikaku called out.

Once Shizuka nodded in acceptance of the new tasks she closed her eyes and focused on the five men in front of her. For a few moments nothing happened and then she felt her father's chakra shift. To her it felt odd, it was just him gathering chakra which left her confused for a moment before she realised what it was and jumped backwards, avoiding her father's shadow.

"Yin release. It doesn't feel like anything other than a disruption of the normal flow. I assume it's going to be the same for yang."

"You still dodged in time."

"I recognised the pattern, the path he made it take is the same for everyone." Shizuka shrugged before closing her eyes again and gesturing for the next person to go.

This time both Inoichi and Kouta gathered chakra. With her focus split, it took a lot more concentration to identify them. She could feel sweat building on her forehead as well as a headache starting right between her eyes.

She didn't open her eyes once the light was blocked by what she assumed was an earth wall but she did open her eyes to the sound of water hitting against the wall, _'Water bullet against an earth wall, such a familiar sound now.'_ Shizuka thought drily. She stood still waiting for her sensei to remove the wall so that she could see the adults.

"Two at a time too much? We should probably call it a day." Daichi threw her the canteen as she rubbed the middle of her forehead.

"Yeah, when I know what to expect its so obvious what the elements are, but my focus has to be on the exact flow. I can't split my focus two at a time to that extent yet, but I knew it was Inoichi-Oji and Kouta-sensei."

Inoichi walked over and placed his hand on her forehead, easing a bit of her headache, chuckling as she let out a sigh and slumped her shoulders.

"You have got to teach me that one of these days." Inoichi just hummed in agreement and the two walked towards the others who had sat down on the seats on the porch.

"So what have you learned?" Shikaku chuckled as she sat on the floor in front of him and dropped her head back, allowing him to run his fingers through her hair.

"The elemental releases do feel different, but to figure it out is to concentrate on a minuscule detail of their normal flow." Shizuka looked up to watch the other adults. "In close range, I can identify affinities, while long range I can only get a general feel for it."

"Which explains how you all avoided so many confrontations in the forest. Most people are betting on luck." Kouta-sensei spoke causing most of the men to scoff at the idea of Shizuka's team being lucky. "To anyone who knows you guys, it was obviously something else."

"We did just stumble across one of the flags while looking for shelter." Shizuka shrugged before turning to her sensei, "If I'm familiar with the chakra its especially easy to figure out when they are converting their chakra to something else, it feels odd. And when they use an affinity its most likely a purer version of whatever the element is. Inoichi-Oji's water smoother and flowed better than that of Kouta-sensei's."

"It's a good start." Daichi reached over to pat her shoulder, "The more you train this the easier it will come, at least you know where to look and you'll be able to identify affinities, which for the chūnin exams should be just enough."

"That's right, we don't expect most genin to know more than one type of elemental release, so knowing their affinities should be enough." Inoichi supplied, an amused smile on his face as he watched Shikaku twirl loose strands of his daughter's hair around his finger.

"We can help out again later on, but I'm sure you have a lot to train already." Chōza stood up and after giving her cheek a pinch.

The adults and Shizuka all moved inside, while Kouta stayed outside.

"You're late." He called before two legs appeared hanging from the porch's roof. "You still owe me one..."

"You see..."

"Nope. She's trying to learn lightning jutsus so that's on you. Have fun."

"So mean, Kouta..."

* * *

She should not have told her uncle she wanted to increase her speed. Big mistake on her part. Her father got her the weights she asked for and warned her about not pushing her limit with just under two weeks left to train.

So now her mother had also decided to join her training regime and she gleefully would throw projectiles at her while her father would relentlessly go after her with his shadow.

A nightmare.

And her sweet little brother was apparently enjoying seeing her running around like a headless chicken dodging projectiles and shadows all over their backyard. _'When he starts training for his chūnin exams he will regret it.'_ She thought to herself, eyeing her brother who was snoozing under the shade of a tree nearby but still out of range of her training.

' _I wish I could be there, under the shade instead of trying to dodge all of this.'_ She thought bitterly as she ducked under another barrage of shuriken only to have to roll sideways and jump out of range of her father's shadow again.

She turned her focus towards her father who was staring at her with an unamused expression on his face, likely from noticing her lack of concentration, a recurring theme she found _'Maybe that's part of the reason people underestimate me all the time.'_

"Shizuka!" Her father barks, bringing her focus back to him as she smiled sheepishly. He sent his wife a look and she nodded, jumping out of range before walking inside. "You need to focus more, stop letting your thoughts drift away, on a mission that _will_ cost you your life and those of your comrades."

Shizuka lowered her head and nodded solemnly before focusing on him again, waiting for him to make the first move and resume their spar. Once he was sure she was focused enough he went through the handsigns for shadow possession. He was vaguely amused his daughter hadn't thought of a way to counter his shadows.

As a Nara, she could use her own shadow as a barrier against his, and while he could overpower her, she could still hold him off for a few moments enough to move out of the way and even trick him to latch on to someone else.

He launches his shadows in her direction while sneaking one behind him and around the trees towards her. He watched as she made the rat handsign and momentarily he thought she had figured it out, but instead of forming a shield around her she stretched hers out towards the forest.

Before he could question her on it, she came close enough to the trees for him to launch his other shadow towards her, and just as he felt it make contact he felt her chakra shift and she went dark. His eyes widened as she was apparently consumed by the shadow and immediately released his jutsu darting forward to see what happened.

' _She's gone? Disappeared just in front of my eyes? What was that?"_ His thoughts were going on a mile a minute and he called out to Yoshino, who came running.

"What happened? Where's Shizuka?" By the hardening look in her eyes, she must have understood his expression because she immediately ran inside, probably to wake his brother.

Shikaku turned around to call Shikamaru inside when he noticed the slumped form of his daughter beside his sleeping son. He immediately ran over and turned her around, taking note of her shivering form and bluish lips.

Shaking Shikamaru awake he urged him to inside while he cradled his daughter to his chest and ran inside, grabbing the blanket they usually left on the couch and wrapped her just in time for Yoshino and Daichi to come into the living room through a different door.

"What happened?" Daichi moved closer only to frown as he noticed his niece's form.

"Hypothermia. We need to go to the hospital now. I'll explain when she's been taken care of." Shikaku pulled her against his chest and ran out the door.

His wife and brother on his heels, Shikamaru tried to run after them, but Daichi picked him up so that they could move faster.

They ran into the emergency area and Shizuka was quickly moved off on a stretcher, while the Naras were taken to the waiting room. Daichi set Shikamaru on a chair and sat down next to him, Yoshino taking a seat on his other side, while Shikaku remained standing.

Mentally, Shikaku was running through the events immediately before Shizuka disappeared. She stretched her shadows out and he had her cornered with his own. Then the tugging sensation from her chakra and then she disappeared.

He hadn't realized but he had been pacing around trying to figure out what his daughter had done.

"Shikaku, please…" His wife's voice brought him out of his thoughts, he met her eyes and sighed, moving to stand directly in front of his family.

"I had her cornered, I thought she had figured out that she could hold off my shadows with her own, but when my connected her chakra shifted and then she was gone." He ran a hand down his face, "It's almost like she used the body flicker, but it was different."

"She couldn't have escaped your shadows with the body flicker." Daichi leaned back into his seat and crossed his arms behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. "The hypothermia is a severe consequence of some our abilities, but you haven't been teaching her _those_ abilities yet."

"For a moment that went through my mind, but I haven't even mentioned those to her yet, and it was different, she disappeared, from the middle of the field."

"I guess we have to wait until she wakes up to help us figure out what happened." Yoshino wrapped her arms around Shikamaru who seemed he was about to protest for a moment but sensing the atmosphere allowed her to pull him closer.

"Your daughter is the bane of the Nara, brother. Attracts way too much trouble that one…"

* * *

When Shizuka woke, she quickly took stock of her body and satisfied that it only seemed tense and a bit sore she turned her head to look around her room. The curtains were partially closed but she could faintly see the light sky, which told her it was the next day and she had been out for several hours.

"Shizuka." Her head turned to the other side to see her father on a chair by her bedside.

"To-san, why am I in the hospital?" She turned onto her side, burrowing further into the blanket that would usually be on the couch of her house but had been draped over the standard hospital blanket.

"Hypothermia." He leaned forward, brushing a strand of her hair out of her face. "What do you remember?"

"I remember getting trapped, but my shadow was connected to the trees, I think I pulled, something, I'm not sure what, and then I remember falling and then nothing."

"I'm going to tell you a little bit about _very dangerous_ consequences to some of our clan's more advanced techniques." He gave her a warning look so that she wouldn't interrupt him. "There are some techniques that allow us to shroud ourselves in shadows, make it into an armour and more. These are all A-Rank techniques that lower our core temperature the longer we hold them. I need you to tell me step by step of what you were thinking."

"A couple weeks ago when I said I wanted to get faster, I had an idea to learn the body flicker, I even convinced Uchiha Shisui to help out, so he taught it to me last week." She looked up from her clasped hands to meet her father's eyes, "Then during our practice, I thought about how I wanted a nap under the shade of a tree, so when I noticed your attack I stretched my shadows and aimed at another shadow, kind of like a slingshot."

"You teleported between shadows?" She didn't know if her father's voice was amused, sceptical or a little angry.

"More like travelled through them… I could feel this cold air pass me, but I couldn't see where I was going so I just released. All the shadows were connected, so I was dragged from one to another." Shizuka looked thoughtful for a moment but her father sighed and used a hand to make her meet his eyes.

"I need you to promise me you will not use it in the exams. It is a technique that could be lethal to any target you choose to attack with it as well as yourself if you're not careful with it." He held her chin in place until he was satisfied that the message had gone through, "I won't stop you from training it, but you need to promise me you'll have Daichi or myself with you if you do."

"This is one of those things that if people find out I'd be requested for specific missions, right?"

Shikaku didn't reply, but to Shizuka that was enough to answer her question. She knew her uncle had quite the reputation as an assassin, blame it on Kouta-sensei for leaving a bingo book out during one of their missions. And with how he was constantly out of the village, it wasn't hard to put two and two together.

"I need to get to work, I'll send in your guests." Shikaku lent down and kissed her forehead before exiting the room, holding the door open for the younger generation of Ino-Shika-Chō to walk in.

"Shizuka-nee-san!" Ino greeted as she jumped on the bed to sit at her side, while Shikamaru and Chōji pulled a chair closer.

"Ka-san told me to bring you this, she made your favourite." Chōji shyly put a bento box by her side, which she gladly took, taking a moment to give Chōji a kiss on his cheek causing the little boy to blush.

"Thank you, Chōji-kun for bringing this. Could you thank your mother for me? I'll try to stop by to thank her myself later."

"So, training gone bad?" Shikamaru asked sending his sister an annoyed look, "I was only asleep for what half an hour and you get yourself admitted to the hospital?"

"Oh, come on. Now my little brother is going to lecture me too?" Shizuka exaggeratedly moaned giving Ino a wide-eyed look, "You believe it wasn't my fault, right, Ino-chan?"

Ino giggled at the older girl and shrugged, before starting to question the girl on academy subjects. With the date for them to start closing in, they wanted to know everything they should expect when classes started.

Shizuka told them about different senseis and their subjects, she sighed dramatically for the ones she disliked and then talked animatedly about the ones she held a particular interest in. She told them funny stories and the best ways to impress their senseis so that they wouldn't get in too much trouble for arriving late and some minor offences.

That was the scene Daichi and Chōza walked into when they dropped by to visit the curious Nara.

"Good to see you're feeling better, Shizuka." Chōza smiled and ruffled her hair, "Alright kids, I'll be walking you home. Let's get going."

"Bye Shizuka-nee!" The three soon to be academy students waved her goodbye and followed Chōza out of the room.

"So, what are you calling this little technique?" Daichi sat on the chair her brother had been sitting on.

"Shadow travel? Do I have to name it?" Shizuka leaned into her uncle's hand as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"You'll come up with something. I'm rather curious about how you did it, so please if you ever want to work on it, let me know."

"I'm not allowed to work on it without you or To-san anyways. I can say though, it's really hard to aim where you are going."

"You can go to any shadow its connected to?" She could tell her uncle was also genuinely curious about the whole thing.

"Kind of. It's kind of like throwing a hook somewhere and pulling yourself to that location. But everything is dark and cold and so finding where you want to go is hard."

"Do you think you'd be able to go to any shadow without them being connected?"

"The only way to find out is to try it out."

"Why did the most troublesome Nara have to be the one to discover such a thing?" Daichi shook his head.

Shizuka rolled her eyes at her uncle and extended her hand touching her hand to her uncle's bicep and with a twitch of her fingers her uncle jumped away from her.

"Ouch!" He rubbed his arm narrowing his eyes at his niece who smirked up at him, "Was that a lightning release?"

"It's only a zap, you big baby, it wasn't even that strong." She rolled her eyes as he feigned hurt. "And yes, I learned about this in one of the scrolls To-san got me."

"It'll be useful, especially use it to threaten people who annoy you."

"Now that's a good idea." Daichi paled as she seemed to actually take his suggestion seriously.

' _Note to self: Do not annoy Shizuka.'_

* * *

Days later Shizuka met up with Itachi at their regular meeting place. They had trained at least once a week together and this would be their last training before the finals. It was also the first meeting since she had ended up in the hospital.

"Itachi-senpai, I have a favour to ask." She smiled up at the branch he was sitting on. "I've been developing a new jutsu but I'm having some trouble making progress with it. I was wondering if you could have a look."

"You're developing your own jutsu?" Itachi may normally keep a poker face but the twitch of his eyebrows gave his surprise away.

"It's related to the clan jutsu, I'm not entirely sure if I'm allowed to show anyone else this, but it kind of works like the body flicker." Shizuka took a step back to stand in the shade of one of the trees. "I can kind of travel between shadows, I've been working on it with my uncle and father, but we haven't made much progress."

"How does it work in theory? Explain it and we go from there."

"Well, my shadow needs to be connected to it somehow, then I merge, I think, with the shadow and pull myself to another point."

"Vague."

"Think of the second and fourth Hokage's Hiraishin, it's like that but I can't see where I'm going and if I stay there for too long I can get hypothermia." Shizuka rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "I was in the hospital for it when I kind of stumbled across the jutsu."

"Stumbled across it?"

"I was sparring and then I just pulled myself away. Hypothermia sucks, by the way."

Itachi ignored her and activated the Sharingan instead gesturing for her to try it out. She knew she promised not to try it without her uncle or father, but they had hit a dead end and she figured Itachi would help if she ended up in a bad situation.

"The closer the point the easier it is, so I won't go far, also the closer the less dangerous."

Shizuka formed the rat seal and focused on her shadow, her chakra pulling it as if wrapping it around her like a cloak before she tugged herself to a place just two meters away. She felt the cold biting into her skin and then she released it, her eyes squeezing shut as to not blind herself with the sudden light.

She slowly blinked her eyes open only to see she had ended up much further than what she intended, but Itachi's eyes were still trained on her. He asked her to do it once more before he gave a thoughtful hum.

"Let's sit in the sun while you tell me if you noticed anything." Doing as she said, she collapsed onto the small circle of sunlight in the middle of the small clearing.

She stretched out to bask in the sun coming in through the gap in the trees as she waited for Itachi to talk.

"Your chakra signature moves through the shadows, I could track your moving chakra, but most opponents wouldn't be able to." He remains standing, watching the slightly younger girl as she relaxed. "But it spread, it was like your chakra filled all of the shaded areas, my theory is that you need to narrow it down, a single thread from one point to the other."

Shizuka hummed in acknowledgement to his theory. _'Most of the clans' techniques are connecting our chakra to the shadows entirely, which is why I've been doing it."_

"Alright let me give it a go." Shizuka stood up and walked over to the shade of the tree.

Standing in the shaded area made it easier since she didn't have to stretch her own out. Once again forming the rat seal she pooled her chakra into her shadow. This time instead of reaching out with her chakra she concentrated on making it into a small stream and guiding it towards her destination.

Once she had chosen the place she pulled, and the same sensations as always bit into her skin. She opened her eyes to see that she had indeed arrived closer to where she wanted, though still a step or two away.

"Much closer than what I expected." She looked at the ground between where she was and where she had intended. "But it's hard to get my chakra into a thin thread, it takes a lot of concentration and time."

"You're fighting your instincts, so that's normal. But the thread is apparently the way to go."

"You're right. Thank you." She smiled at him before tilting her head towards the targets. "The usual?"

Itachi nodded and pulled out a handful of shuriken while she brought out both her tantōs. They returned to their usual routine of throwing and deflecting projectiles for a couple hours, taking small breaks for water.

As they gathered the weapons from the clearing Itachi's voice startled her out of her thoughts.

"We won't be able to meet for a while, I will be busy for a couple of weeks. I will inform you when I become available again."

"No worries. Thank you for all your help so far." She gave him his weapons which he put into his pouch. "See you, Itachi."

* * *

Shizuka was on her way to a team four meeting, the last one before the first round of fights the next day. As the month for training came to a close, Shizuka took two days off to simply relax and go over planning for her fights.

They were meeting up in a dango shop as it was Kaito's turn to pick a location. She easily spotted her team in a booth towards the back of the restaurant and sat down in the booth next to Kaito facing her sensei and Masaru.

"We're all here, good." Kouta clasped his hands on the table and gave each of his genin a long look, "I'm proud you all made it to the last stage, and you've all improved immensely from those first days as genin to now. So, I want you all to know that you've been a fantastic team and no matter what I'll be there if you still have any need of me."

"It goes both ways, sensei." Kaito gave a small smile as his teammates nodded, "Now, since we might be going against each other in the finals we agreed to keep the 'new' things secret, but how about the 'old' stuff, any improvements?"

"I've caught up to your level of kenjutsu. I might not be as experienced in a proper fight, but I can hold my own." Masaru smirked at them, "Everyone on team four can use a katana now, though Shizuka prefers her shorter tantōs. We should start calling the team-"

"If you suggest team katana, team blade or whatever it is that you were thinking about it I will ignore you for a year." Shizuka deadpanned, her warning glare stopping Masaru from finishing the sentence. "In any case, I focused on ninjutsu outside of my trump cards, so nothing new since our last meeting."

"Ah much the same for me, except I split it between kenjutsu and ninjutsu, so a couple new things on those two fronts."

"As a neutral party here, I'd like to say you all improved in the last month, and that although you would know what to expect from each other, don't underestimate each other just because you've known each other for long."

"Hai, sensei." The three chorused, something that both amused and annoyed their sensei, depending on when they did it.

"Tomorrow is the three-way fight, you all got information on your groups and on the others to help you predict the people to move on to the next rounds, and hopefully planned accordingly."

"Yes, we are prepared to counter most of what our opponents could throw at us." Shizuka leaned back into her seat eyeing the other two genin, "For the unknown, it will be up to us to analyze and plan on the spot, which is an important skill chūnin need."

"Alright, so let's go over your groups. Group A, people and known abilities…"


	14. Round 1

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Poll update:**

 **Genma – 57%**

 **Kakashi – 23%**

 **Itachi – 20%**

 **Poll link for those who can't vote through :**

 **Go to surveymonkey. co. uk and add /r/V6GFDLM**

 **Voting will end 31** **st** **of May, and more romance filled chapters will start mid-June if I can follow my plans on schedule.**

 **I'm sorry for the slightly longer wait. Not only are fights not my thing, but I'm also in the middle of exam season and so I probably won't be able to update once a week unless I'm very inspired. Only for two and a half weeks so I can promise at least one update in that time frame.**

 **Thanks! Hope you enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 14 – Round 1**

The very next day Shizuka found herself in a closed balcony with the other participants waiting for their turn. Group A had already gone down to the ground of the arena and was waiting for the proctor, Raidō to give the starting signal.

Hana stood at her side leaning on the half wall to look down into the arena, her ninken sitting dutifully at her feet. Shun was on Hana's other side silent as ever, his eyes focused on his teammate. Masaru was on Shizuka's right side tapping his finger in a random pattern, anxious to start the first round.

"All participants are ready. Let group A start the first round… NOW!" Raidō called before moving a safe distance away as the three opponents prepared to attack.

"It's unconventional. A three-way fight I mean." Hana said as her eyes observed the boy from Suna attack Kaito only to have to push away as Kenji launched a fireball their way.

"They were probably too lazy to come up with a different tournament division because of the odd numbers." Shizuka commented, smirking as Kaito used a water jutsu to counter instead of dodging like Chikaru had.

' _He's letting that one out as a warning to Kenji that he had the advantage in ninjutsu.'_ Shizuka glanced at Kenji's teammates while the fight continued in the area. Both looked thoughtful as Kenji and Kaito stood opposite each other for a moment before Kaito had to once again to parry a blow from Chikaru.

"Kaito's got this one in the bag, doesn't he?" Masaru whispered as he smirked gleefully as their teammate landed a blow to Chikaru's stomach sending the boy skidding backwards.

"Hey!" Hana protested her dogs yipping as if agreeing with her, "Don't count Kenji out just yet!"

"We aren't but think about it. The Suna guy's expertise is taijutsu, and while it's not Kaito's expertise he's decent at it, and the guy's attacking using standard tactics against two different opponents, shouldn't be too hard to counter those." Shizuka pointed out, her eyes fixed on the movements below.

"And Kenji is a fire type, and while that's also Kaito's affinity, he also has water jutsus up his sleeve." Masaru concluded, sending the other team from Konoha a smile, "He's got a nice advantage, but I'll admit it could go another way."

"Kenji is _fast_ Kaito will have to overcome that if they go to taijutsu." Hana argued again.

"Ah, but Kaito can occasionally get the upper hand on Shizuka, who is the fastest of us three. I'm willing to bet she's faster than Kenji too." Masaru looked down to the arena, "Shame we weren't allowed to bet on this."

The fight down below had started to get rather interesting. The Suna boy was apparently a wind type and had taken to throwing enhanced kunai at Kaito, who now had to dodge and counter both the Suna boy's attack as well as Kenji's.

' _They've deemed him the larger threat.'_ Shizuka smirked as she watched Kaito pull out his katana.

He had been using it openly in training sessions and missions, not even sealing it away while walking in the village. Most people knew he could use one by now, so he chose to reveal his new water jutsus for this round. If he was showing a second nature release as his first trump card than he must have had some interesting stuff for the next few rounds.

Meanwhile, Kaito was dodging and knocking projectiles off their paths while continuously attempting to put Kenji between them so that he wouldn't get surrounded. Luckily, he was rather used to having projectiles thrown at him, thanks to Shizuka, and keeping an eye out for the occasional fire jutsu in between volley of weapons thanks to Kouta-sensei.

Therefore, as he allowed himself to find a rhythm of dodging and occasionally launching an attack of his own to push his opponents to the same side, he started thinking of the next few steps.

' _Wind and fire, they could work together, but I can use a large water jutsu to counter that, use the mist to sneak up, and…'_ Kaito smirked as his fingers twitched towards the pouch on his leg, _'I need to time this just right…'_

He launched into a run with his katana poised to strike towards Chikaru who immediately threw a volley of weapons which he dodged a couple and threw the others at either side of Chikaru, sneaking some of his kunai own attached to explosive tags with them.

Just as he predicted, Kenji started the handsigns for a fire justu and Chikaru prepared a to send another wind jutsu. However, Kaito as soon as Kaito activated the explosives, Kenji's eyes widened, and he jumped to the side his fire jutsu meeting with that of Chikaru's wind jutsu, magnifying the flames from the giant fireball.

Shizuka heard the gasps from the audience and smirked as she felt Kaito prepare for a large jutsu, she leaned towards Masaru to whisper to him.

"Doesn't this bring back fond memories of the Forest of Death."

"Different jutsus but same effect. What do you think he wants with the steam?" Masaru smirked and both team four members leaned forward to watch Kaito's next moves carefully.

They watched as Kaito reached for very familiar looking small pale balls and more explosive tags. Shizuka and Masaru both snorted as their teammate dashed into the mist as dark smoke filled the area around. Together the mist and smoke filled most of the arena, covering all three contestants as well as the proctor who jumped to stand on a ledge on the wall, probably there so that he could stay out of the way.

Moments later the mist and smoke cleared and standing in the middle of the clearing were Chikaru and Kenji, wisps of white smoke still drifting around them. Meanwhile, Kenji was nowhere to be seen.

"Shizuka…"

"Don't worry, you said it yourself, Kaito has this one in the bag." Shizuka's eyes glanced around the arena and landed on a tree. Even though he was masking his chakra, Shizuka was too familiar with his for him to hide completely from her.

Chikaru and Kenji both swayed for a bit looking around confused. Attacking in low visibility would have been easy, but Kaito hadn't done so. They looked at each other and prepared to continue their fight but before they could, their legs gave way under their weight and they collapsed to the ground unconscious.

The moment his opponents fell to the ground, Kaito jumped out of the tree and moved forward to stand directly between his opponents and looked up to the proctor who jumped down to inspect the two fallen genin.

"The winner for Group A is Hitotose Kaito from Konoha." Raidō gave the signal for medics to come collect the other two while Kaito bowed and moved to go up the stairs to see his teammates.

"You stole pretty much everything from that fight I the Forest." Shizuka shook her head and bumped fist with Kaito who did the same to Masaru with his other hand.

"I revealed my water jutsu, but with them trying to corner me I had to end it in a more general form." Kaito shrugged as they moved to the other two Konoha genin who were a little disappointed with the result. "Sorry about Kenji, it's just a sleeping drug, the steam diluted it as well, so he should wake up in the next hour."

"A little anticlimactic I must admit, but not all of these fights will be all that interesting." Hana shrugged and proceeded to move down to the arena as her group was called.

Shun gave Kaito a nod but remained silent. The four Konoha genin looked down as Raidō went over the introductions and called the match to a start.

"Did you notice the Sand's team members have their first names starting with A, B and C? Aika, Biro and Chikaru. The ABC team…" Shizuka snorted as her teammates gave her incredulous looks. "What, the ABC team is more specific than Suna's team."

"Do you give all teams nicknames?" Masaru shook his head at his teammates' shrug.

If Shizuka was being honest the match below was far from interesting. For the first half an hour of the fight, all Aika and Mareo did was fight each other and completely ignore Hana who was just dodged and ignored the entire time.

Aika followed her team's standard strategies and was painfully obvious to predict. Mareo, on the other hand, was pretty much a wild card. He changed his strategy every other move he made and although that would keep your opponent on their toes it left him at a disadvantage in the long run.

Aika and Mareo both had an earth affinity, but as they were evenly matched in ninjutsu they started a rather aggressive fight with Aika's scythe and Mareo's katana. The two were a blur of metal, slashing, dodging and clashing their weapons, while Hana attempted to interrupt them, but they would just move away and clash together again.

Shizuka wasn't paying too much attention by then and was instead practising feeling around the stands practising her sensing. She knew her father, Inoichi-oji and Chōza-oji and Kouta-sensei were somewhere in the stands. The first three probably sitting together, also probably accompanied by their wives and kids. She knew Shikamaru was there but wasn't sure about Ino and Chōji. She also assumed Kouta-sensei would be around the same area. She kept her eyes on the fight below but her focus on sensing those people.

Just as she found them, Hana's ninken all started growling causing quite a bit of noise. In a matter of moments, the Three Haimaru Brothers transformed and attacked all at once.

" _ **Gatsūga!"**_ _(Man-Beast Ultimate Taijutsu: Fang Over Fang)_

As she and her ninken come to a stop, and the cloud of dust that rose from the attack finally died down, her two opponents were found on the floor bleeding from several cuts and probably sporting several bruises from being thrown around by the attack.

"Wish people wouldn't hide what was going on with smoke and such, I'd rather _see_ a fight end for once instead of seeing just the final result." Masaru sniffed eyeing Shizuka, "You better not do that in yours."

"Looks like those two are still going to put up a fight." Shizuka ignored her teammates look and nodded towards the fight, which had turned interesting finally.

"You shouldn't ignore your opponents!" Hana growled as her ninken surrounded the other two.

Shizuka had known Hana for a long time. Out of the girls in their year in the academy, she was one of the few that Shizuka could actually stand. She was calm, level headed and reasonable while most other girls just fangirled over some boy or the other. Normally Hana didn't act like a typical Inuzuka, while most people from her clan were loud and boisterous Hana wasn't. But she had a temper like everyone else in her clan, and Shizuka knew that right now she was very angry.

"Ah, there's her Inuzuka temper." Kenji's voice sounded from behind them, causing all four genin to swivel around.

"You're awake." Shun nodded and stepped aside to open up a space between him and Kaito.

Kenji gave Kaito a nod and they shook hands. An agreement that there were no hard feelings from their fight.

"What's got Hana so annoyed?"

"The other two ignored her completely so far, she's feeling a bit left out." Masaru summarised with a snicker, "Looks like we found out who your next opponent is, Kaito. No way are the others moving on against an angry Inuzuka."

The genin snickered, even Shun seemed mildly amused behind his high collar. Their focus was brought down at the sound of more growls from the ninken below.

The Three Haimaru Brothers had all pounced on Aika, while Hana locked blades with Mareo. While normally putting yourself in the middle of a fight between to shinobi might not be the smartest idea, Hana and her familiars were handling the situation exceptionally. They weaved between each other, every now and then one of the ninken would turn and snap at Mareo pushing him further away from the other fight happening.

By the time the two groups were on opposite sides both the Suna and the Grass genin were covered in scratches.

Aika was the first to go down. Literally. She fell into a hole one of the ninken had probably made while everyone was watching the fight between Grass and Sand. One of the dogs was quick to latch onto the girl's neck, teeth not digging into the flesh, but the message clear: 'I win'. She forfeited knowing she had been bested.

The boy, however, puts up more of a fight. Mareo had been backed to the arena wall, and once the three dogs had joined Hana in her fight. But four to one was not an ideal situation and after several minutes of fighting, the fight came to an end when Mareo fell unconscious after Hana punched him.

"The winner for Group B is Inuzuka Hana from Konoha." Raidō called, another group of medics quickly rushing into the arena to collect the boy's slumped form against the wall he had hit after the punch.

"Slightly more interesting than the first fight, but the fights need _more._ " Masaru complained as Hana was declared the winner of group B.

"No one wants to reveal all their tricks now, they are waiting for the stronger competition." Shizuka shrugged as she turned to face Masaru. "You're up next, good luck."

"Ah, thanks! I'll try to make it interesting." Masaru grinned and the three bumped fists again before he turned to head down, the other two people in his group doing the same.

"Good luck, Masaru!" Hana called to him as they crossed paths on the stairs, the Three Haimaru Brothers yipping in agreement.

"Well fought, Hana. Can't wait to see your fight with Kaito." Masaru smiled in thanks and moved out into the arena.

The participants of group C stood facing each other with Raidō between them. The tokubetsu jōnin called the match to a start and returned to his perch on the wall.

Biro made a fast break towards Masaru who instantly went onto the defensive, blocking and dodging the punches sent his way. Tadaaki focused on their fight and kept out of the way, but judging by the thoughtful expression on his face he was trying to analyse his opponents.

"Tadaaki is voluntarily staying back." Kaito pointed out, "Biro is fast, but I thought we found that he was the long range from his team, with his fire release."

"He was... But this is better for Masaru. Tadaaki is a long distance fighter with some decently powered wind jutsus, but its a disadgvantage in terms of element."

Kaito hummed and focused on the match once more. The entire team from Suna used rather straightforward strategies, not too hard to predict, but Biro was doing the opposite of what they expected.

After several minutes watching Biro and Masaru exchanging blows, Tadaaki jumped into action, his hands flying through handsigns. He landed between the other two just as they jumped apart.

" _ **Fūton: Kamikaze."**_ _(Wind Release: Divine Wind)_

From each of his outstretched palms, a tornado appeared, each tornado hitting one of the other two genin sending them in a flurry to opposite sides as neither could dodge the jutsu while midair.

Tadaaki wasted no time in forming new handsigns and turning to Masaru, forming a familiar jutsu.

" _ **Fūton: Fūjin no Jutsu"**_ _(Wind Style: Dust Storm Jutsu)_

Luckily, Masaru must've recognised the handsigs because he flew through some of his own and as soon as he could, he sank into the ground, gaining coverage from the tiny dust particles that could've caused some serious damage.

' _I'm glad I showed some Wind jutsu's to the boys... If Masaru had gotten caught in that...'_ Shizuka narrowed her eyes on the settling dust cloud, her senses easily pinpointing Masaru's location. _'If Masaru goes between them he get's surrounded, but if he stayes on one side the other two could inadvertently help each other and amplify Biro's fire release.'_

Without realising what she was doing Shizuka started biting her lower lip as she thought of the possible outcomes of the fight. She was quickly pulled from her musing by Kaito who pinched her arm.

"Masaru will figure something out."

She didn't reply but returned her focus to the fight, pushing away her thoughts as to focus on her teammate.

While Masaru had a moment to collect himself underground, Biro started launching fire techniques one after the other. And Tadaaki knowingly hekd back from his Wind techniques, resorting to dodging the balls and streaks of fire.

It was an impressive display of ninjutsu, both of Masaru's teammates admitted, but they had faith their teammate would come up to beat his opponents.

Shizuka's head snapped towards the side of the arena where she felt Masaru's chakra and started tapping her fingers against the railing. While Shizuka was usually good at keeping emotions from her face when needed, she would occasionally let show her anxiousness by bouncing her leg quickly.

The reason for her sudden anxiety, Masaru's chakra started flickering, a clear sign he was preparing some jutsu.

Her eyes darted between the two foreign genin who had now engaged in a taijutsu spar, with the occasional ninjutsu thrown in between. She leaned forward just as Kaito did to watch closely as Masaru appeared above ground just to have to create use a wall of earth to protect himself from the collision of a fire and wind jutsu, which had spread slightly towards him.

With no time to remake the handsigns or dodge, Biro had disengaged from Tadaaki to kand a solid punch to Masaru's torso, causing the Konoha genin to fly towards the arena wall.

"He's out. His chakra signature stabalised to 'sleep' mode."

"Damn... If he had just timed it right..." Kaito watched as Raidō checked his teammate and called for the medics to take him from the field.

"The guy from Suna and Masaru were well matched in taijutsu, although the guy had a slight edge on speed. And Masaru isn't much of a ninjutsu user, he would've stayed defensive too long in that."

"True, but he could have planed around it. His wall, if it went around Tadaaki, he wouldn't have been able to escape, so that's one opponent down." Shizuka sighed as Masaru disappeared from view into one of the passages below.

"As for Suna guy, he could've taken him short range, he's able to get the upper hand on Shizuka every now and then... And with some layered genjutsu, he would've had it." Kaito added as he grudgingly focused on the last two contestants.

With one opponent out of the way, Biro seemed to up the ante, his fire jutsu becoming slightly more intense as well as more frequent. He seemed to effortlessly block and dodge Tadaaki's blade.

Tadaaki also seemed to visibly tire from the insessant attacks, after recieving a punch to the thigh, he stumbled and couldn't regain his balance in time. But before he could fall to the ground, Biro was there sending a roundhouse kick, sending the fallen genin into one of the sides of the arena with enough force to leave cracks on the wall.

"The winner for Group C is Aoki Biro from Suna." As soon as Raidō calls out the result medics rushed in with a stretcher for Tadaaki from the arena.

From where Kouta was sitting he could just see the participants' balcony. He watched Masaru approah his teammates who opened up a space between them for Masaru to stand between them. He saw as Kaito pinched the bridge if his nose as Masaru's head snapped towards Shizuka who turned to lean back onto the railing, her shoulders shaking with what he assumed was laughter. _'For all that they've grown, not that much has truly changed.'_

Just as this happened, Team Four's genin were telling Masaru about what they observed, promising the boy that they would walk the fight through with him so that he could learn from it.

"Now it's you, Shizuka. Try to make it interesting would you." Masaru smiled gratefully at his teammetes and they did their now customary fist bump.

"I'll see what I can do..." She winked before moving out of the balcony, her being the last person of her group to leave.

As she stepped out into the arena she took note of how big the place was. From where she had been on the balcony it didn't seem as large, but standing at the bottom, seeing the walls rising all around her and then the rows and rows of seats was quite an experience.

"Round 1, Group D, the fight starts now." Raidō called as soon as all three genin were introcuded just all the fights before, he then jumped onto his ledge overlooking the arena.

Moments later, Shizuka had already been engaged in combat with Cho, who had run full speed – and it was _fast_ – at her. Gritting her teeth she pulled out her tantō and pushed herself to match the fast pace of her opponent.

While Shizuka knew she wasn't as fast as most Jōnin, she was considered fast amongst several of her fellow genin of the Leaf, possibly even a handful of chūnin could be matched. And even after all that speed training, she could tell that Cho was faster. She could hold her own for a fair amount of time, but Cho would eventually outlast her.

Knowing that the pushed more strength into pushing Cho back, her tantō glowing with wind chakra to add some edge to her blows. And jst as Cho backed away just enough for her to weave handsigns she unleashed a strong gust of wind, that would have left several cuts along Cho's body had she been caught in it.

But she wasn't.

Shizuka was anxious. Shun's bugs were small enough to slip past her senses, and while she had two opponents she couldn't concentrate on both. She knew she had to stay away from the bugs that could absorb her chakra.

For a sensory type, the kikaichū were usually a nightmare. They were small and you wouldn't usually pick up on their chakra points but they could be used as a jamming ability to confuse sensors. And Shizuka _hated_ those. She even considered asking Shun to help her train her sensory abilities after said abilities were revealed.

Shizuka jumped back from Cho's katana strike.

' _Ah, think about future training later.'_ Shizuka took a deep breath and attampted to push Cho back again with another wind release.

" _ **Fūton: Reppūshō"**_ _(Wind Style: Gale Palm)_

Quickly repeating the handsigns as she caught sight of a small swarm of bugs from her right. Shizuka had no intention of dealing heavy damage to the Aburame's insects, and so was careful to push just enough chakra to push them out of her way and moving away from them.

After a few more repeats of Shun sending insects either her way or towards Cho he realised both opponents were quick enough to dodge the individual strikes, so he started to set up the insects to corner them.

Noticing this Shizuka started to use a wind wall that went totally around her, protecting her from all sides, and throwing whatever bugs came into contact with it into a spiral that sent them away from her.

Meanwhile, Cho seemed to have a bit more difficult, probably not used to deflecting such small creatures. And although she still hadn't been hit, Shun was getting better at predicting her movements and it was only a matter of time before they got her.

' _If only they were a bit faster...'_ Shizuka sighed and sent another gale palm towadrs Cho who had made a run for her as soon as her wind wall dissipated. _'She woun't be able to reach me before I sense her, even if I am distracted by Shun's little friends.'_

Just as she completed the handsigns for a second gust of wind, she noticed the insects moving towards Cho and the gust of wind. Smirking she threw a gust at them to knock them off course.

For a moment she considered the body flicker but decided to save that one for later. And so she pushed herself to her top speed, and reached for a little bag inside her pouch and grabbed pressed it into her palm.

Cho glanced at her hand as she approached but had to focus on Shizuka's left hand that had her tantō.

When she was sure she had what she wanted in hand she took a step closer to the Grass nin, their blades sliding against each other. Once she was close enough, she released for her second tantō from a hidden strap to her back.

Once Cho noticed the second blade, Cho disengaged their blades and spun away, allowing Shizuka stick the blades into the ground and forming quick handsigns for the wind wall. This time making it around her and the other girl, and with a quick flick of her wrist, the contents of the little bag slipped into the air.

Satisfied with the action, Shizuka used the cover of the rapidly dissipating wall of wind to bite into a capsule she got from her pouch and jumping to engage Cho in another fight with their blades.

With two blades in hand, Shizuka had the edge of being able to strike twice and although Cho was fast, she couldn't block everything. Once she was satisfied with their position in relation to Shun and the swarf of insects that was currently trying to corner them, Shizuka jumped back and sheathed her blades. Cho immediately followed, but the Nara launched into the air already performing handsigns for a gust of wind.

This time she didn't interfere with the bugs trying to get some speed off the wind and moments later Cho fell to the ground covered in insects.

' _Now for the Aburame...'_ Shizuka and Shun jumped to the other side of the arena, allowing space for the medics to move the unconsious girl out of the way of the fight. _'His bugs should be contaminated, so they will be slower.'_

With only one opponent, Shizuka could now focus completely on Shun's chakra. While he was unlikely to use any nature releases she could try to pinpoint his kikaichū which would be a nice practice.

' _Ah, there it is again. I'm fairly certain this is what annoys everyone I spar with.'_ She could almost hear her father's and sensei's voices yelling at her to focus on their training rather than planning another excercise.

As she stood facing Shun, she took a moment to glance around the arena. They weren't close to any of the walls and there wasn't any coverage around them, so shadows would be hard to come by. The bugs were also too small for her to properly use theirs so that was also out.

Her blades would also be useless as she could keep trying to hit tiny bugs with them so that already cut down most of her options since she didn't want to reveal more any other tricks. While she could try to create shadows with bombs or anything else when against another Konoha nin who knew to dance around the shadows would be a little annoying to plan around that.

Which meant her best option was her wind jutsu. Scanning the arena once more darted to the side, towards the shaded wall of the arena, Shun's bugs forming a barrier to keep her from the shadows. Jumping back to avoid the critters she weaved through hadnsigns.

" _ **Fūton: Fūjin no Jutsu."**_ _(Wind Style: Dust Storm Jutsu)_ The cloud of dust released was not aimed towards Shun or his bugs, but rather to create a corridor between itself and the shadows along the walls. Landing between the dust cloud and the arena walls she had direct access to Shun, who either went to the wall or through the dust.

Brining her two tantōs out again she blocked a barrage of shuriken while occasionally dodging swarms of bugs trying to latch onto her. Taking quick note of the rapidly dissipating dust cloud she weaves more handsigns to raise the dust particles back into the air, this time spreading it a but more and going inside the cloud.

With such a low visibility she relied on her senses to pinpoint Shun's position and moving through the cloud with her chakra compressed she reached towards her normal smoke bombs.

" _ **Fūton: Fūjin no Jutsu."**_ _(Wind Style: Dust Storm Jutsu)_ She whispered, adding her smoke bombs on either side of the new column of dust.

Shun now had to stay in the smoke less wanted to get hundres of cuts from the dust particles released. She smirked as she noticed Shun's signatrue jump into the air and around the cloud of dust and smoke, once again putting him away from the shadows. Weaving some more handsigns she allowed the clouds to dissipate and concentrated on staying away from any bugs sneaking up on her.

With some enhanced swipes of her tantōs, she forced Shun to dodge slashes of wind, and the just as he was within range she reached with her shadow towards him, smiling in satisfaction when she felt it connect.

"Shadow possession complete." She narrowed her eyes at the momentary lack of response from Shun and mentally cursed when she heard the buzzing coming from under her. _'Bugs from underground, fun.'_

Instead of reaching for a senbon in her pocket she reached for the last few smoke bombs and threw them with maximum strength at the ground, the small capsules immediately bursting. With a quick wind jutsu to spread the smoke out faster, she quickly moved through the smoke while thanking her lucky stars that her previous poison had slowed the bugs enough for her to make that escape.

She stopped just before leaving the coverage of the smoke and reached her senses to the bugs, drawing them to her location, the furthes away from Shun as the smoke would allow her.

As she felt them approaching she let them come as close as she dared before she body flickered in the opposite direction, landing herself on the side of a wall, where she latched onto the shadows once more.

Ever since Itachi had helped her with her new jutsu she had resumed training it with her father and uncle. They were surprised with the development she had made from one day to the other but didn't question her directly, though she was pretty sure they had an idea of what she had done. Anyways, by latching onto the shadows of the side of the arena she had that escape line ready to go, but her main objective was to trap Shun and his bugs.

With her back up plan set up, she ran forwards, her tantōs slashing while infused with chakra to keep the bugs away from her. Just as she closed in she made a wind dome around Shun, which would keep him and whatever bugs were there inside.

She gathered the shadows at her feet and pushed them around the dome. While the shadows crawled up the wind structure, Shizuka kept an eye out for stray bugs, but none came. Once she allowed the wind to dissipate, silence took over the stadium, even the buzzing of Shun's bugs seemed quieter despite her proximity.

"Shun, I can compress the Shadow Dome and there is no way to escape them. You and your bugs are trapped, they can't get out, although the ones out here can go in."

When no response came Shizuka sighed and pulled the shadows closer, the Dome compressing until you could only see Shun's figure outlined in shadows. Walking closer she tapped her hand against his shoulder, Shun's figure visibly flinching from the slight shock he recieved.

"I forfeit. I cannot exit or even move, and she could have already knocked me unconsicous by now." Came the slightly reluctant call from the Aburame.

"The winner for Group D is Nara Shizuka from Konoha," Raidō called, the medics rushing over and helping Shun onto a stretcher, as the boy had collapsed, the visible part face looking pale with a tinge of blue. "The two semi-finals will occur tomorrow. Well done and good luck to the four competing in them."

Shizuka sighed and removed her jacket, folding it over one of her arms as she moved towards the participant's balcony where she met with her two teammates and her sensei, all of whom raised their eyebrow at her discarded jacket.

"So, you poisoned the insects and then just used some nice standard Nara techniques with a pretty standard plan to take down Shun. Clever." Kaito nodded in approval as she approached, the three genin quickly doing their little fist-bump.

"What did you use against the insects anyway? And how did it not affect anyone else?"

"Ahh, well… When Shun was going after Cho, I realised his plan, so I sent a gust of wind with some special power towards her, which got caught in her clothes, so when Shun's bugs came into contact with her they were covered in it. So even if Shun didn't take her down the poison would eventually. And from there it got to him as well, but they were such small portions that it would've taken a while for him to feel it's effects."

"You used his plan against him. Nice." Masaru smirked before he narrowed his eyes again at the jacket. "Wait, you haven't answered what it was or the consequences."

"Well, so that flower…"

"Oh Kami, no." Masaru slapped his forehead while the other two just sweat dropped at their female teammates' sheepish expression.

"I asked Genma if he still had a sample, and with the help of the Nara research and Development they developed a synthetic one, so it lowered the temperature of the body and slowed movement but not a fatal poison."

"I'm fairly certain the Hokage will one day regret ever assigning Genma to our team." Kouta shook his head before gesturing his students out of the room, "Let's go find your families, I'm sure they want to congratulate you all."


	15. Semi-Finals

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Poll update:**

 **Genma – 61%**

 **Kakashi – 22%**

 **Itachi – 17%**

 **Poll link:**

 **Surveymonkey . com . uk /r/ V6GFDLM**

 **Again, poll closes end of May.**

 **Sorry for the delay with the chapter, but I really had to focus on my studies. With that gone, I will be writing the next chapter this week, and it will hopefully be up next Saturday if I have the inspiration to write another fight scene XD**

 **Thanks! And Enjoy!**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 15 – Semi-Finals**

The following morning team four met at the entrance of the arena, their families and sensei a few meters away talking to each other.

"You two better win! I want a team four final." Masaru crossed his arms and gave both of them pointed stares, "Kaito come up with your own plan, stop copying old strategies. Shizuka avenge me."

Shizuka just stared at him with a bored expression while Kaito just huffed before offering his fist.

"I'll be sitting with your families and Kouta-sensei. Make it interesting." Masaru bumped fists with Kaito and offered a hand to Shizuka who rolled her eyes and bumped fists with the boys.

"See you later, Masaru." Shizuka and Kaito walked off, waving to their families before disappearing into the contestants' entrance.

The three families and Kouta made their way to the stands, Inoichi and Chōza joining them several minutes later, just as the first two finalists were introduced.

"Kids not joining you today?" Shikaku greeted his close friends as the other two settled next to him.

"Ino is at a friend's but, she'll come for the final." Inoichi smirked at his friend's raised eyebrows, "Come now, Shikaku, I find it hard to imagine your daughter not in the final."

"Chōji got stuck with chores because someone comvinved him to nap instead of completing them yesterday afternoon." Chōza sent an amused expression at Shikamaru who slumped into his seat and leaned slightly forward to get a better view of the match. "But he said he'd try to finish fast to watch Shizuka's match."

Inoichi snickered and was about to make a comment but was interrupted by the sound of the bell signifying the start of the match.

Kaito and Hana stared at each other for a moment after the starting signal. In those moments an understanding passed between them. No matter the outcome it was all in good spirits.

With a quick nod of her head, the Three Haimaru Brothers surrounded Kaito, who lowered his head and focused on his sense of hearing and expanded his sensory skills. Which while weren't too impressive, Shizuka had made sure to teach the basics to her teammates so that they could at the very least get her attention without ever moving.

' _I'll keep a ten-meter extension as a precaution. I'll still be able to focus on any other attacks while keeping a decent warning for them trying to sneak up on my back.'_

Once he was satisfied with the radius of his sensory perception he could practically _see_ Shizuka's smirk if she found out he was relying on that skill for this fight.

For the first several minutes of Semi-Final one, Kaito was forced to dodge attacks from all sides, all impeccably timed, which had him relying on heavier blows to clear a path and quick sprints to distance himself from his opponents.

"Not bad, you're good at dodging." Hana smirked as he slid away from between the attack of two of her ninken as well as knocking several kunai off their course with his katana.

"You forget that there is a Nara on my team. You should try dodging _shadows._ Let me tell you they are _everywhere._ " Kaito shrugged, an amused expression taking over his features as he remembered all the 'dodging' drills Kouta-sensei put them through. Most of which had Nara's shadow jutsus being the main threat.

Hana smirked and reached for some pills in her pouch, her ninken taking position next to her.

' _Ah, so we're taking it a notch up already.'_ Kaito smirked and put his katana in its sheath on his back before assuming a more attentive stance, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.

"Ah seems like Kaito is finally going to take this seriously," Masaru smirked and leaned forward in his seat ignoring the amused expressions from the adults. "Neh, Shikamaru, your sister tells me you are a little genius. Who do you think is winning this one?"

"Skills wise, Kaito-san. But as long as he doesn't have a plan Hana-san has the advantage."

"Shizuka wasn't kidding when she said the reasoning is a genetic thing." That caused the adults to stifle chuckles as they pretended to not see the exchange. "I don't suppose you want to elaborate on that answer?"

"Too troublesome."

Masaru groaned and looked down towards his teammate who was in the process of dodging the Inuzuka's signature clan jutsu, _**Gatsūga**_ _(Man-Beast Ultimate Taijutsu: Fang Over Fang)._

Sure enough, Hana's attacks started to come in harder and the timing between each one was starting to get to Kaito who was covered in scratches and had gotten some good blows to the body.

Making a tactical retreat Kaito jumped as far as he could and released a powerful fire jutsu before he leaned down seemingly catching his breath. Within seconds of the firestorm dispersing Hana and the Three Haimaru Brothers were on to him again.

The attack raised a lot of dust blocking visibility of the arena ground for a couple of seconds. By the time it cleared all participants seemed to have received some extra cuts.

"Still standing after a full-on attack. Shizuka will need to tell me how she deals with people good at dodging."

"She poisons them." Kaito deadpanned.

Hana having heard the story snorted while the members of the audience who knew of the flower also let out a few chuckles.

As the Inuzuka prepared for another round, her ninken started to tremble, one of them even collapsing.

"She's helped more than just dodge training," Kaito smirked as Hana's eyes snapped to him, noticing the two senbon in his hands. "She often recommends tools for us to stock up on. Paralytic toxins on a senbon, a definite must. Especially for an opponent coming straight at you. A scratch will do."

Starting to feel the effects of the toxin Hana tried to clench her hands, but it was slow to respond and had obviously lost some strength. But just as she started to fall, Kaito caught her and helped her sit.

"You almost had me, Hana, truly. Your strength is impressive, and the timing was spot on, I only escaped because of speed and dodge training. Well done."

Hana smiled and looked up to the proctor giving him a head shake before she leaned back onto Kaito's legs as he stood behind her.

"Inuzuka Hana is no longer to continue. The winner of the first semi-final is Hitotose Kaito."

Kaito bowed in acknowledgement and helped Hana onto a stretcher after informing the medics the toxin he used. He followed behind the stretchers with the three ninken and gave a small wave to the crowd before he disappeared into the hallway.

Kaito met Shizuka on the stairs as she made her way down to the arena for her fight against the guy from Suna.

"Well done! And not a single trump card revealed. I'm impressed." Shizuka teased their fists bumping against each other. "I honestly thought she had you for a moment there."

"Ah, well your help with sensory training may have saved my ass then and your mention of Genma reminded me all I needed was a scratch in for the paralytic to work." Kaito rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Good luck. I'll be with our families since the balcony is empty."

"Thanks. I'll look forward to our fight." Shizuka made her way to the arena floor.

"Shizuka, you better not start planning that during this fight." Kaito called over to her but she just waved at him without even turning back. _'Not sure anyone will be amused if she lets her concentration slips…'_

"The second semi-final starts… NOW!" Raidō called before jumping to a ledge to oversee the fight.

Biro dashed forward immediately sending off some small fire bullets towards her. Since Wind is weak against fire and would actually power up his jutsus she resorted to moving out of the way, keeping an eye on any signs Biro was trying to push her in a certain direction.

'He's pushing me away from the side with more shadows, smart.' Shizuka smirked and tilted her head to the side as she observed her opponent who had paused his attacks to watch her as well.

"What do you think, Shikaku?" Chōza asked as he glanced curiously at his old friend.

"Biro and Shizuka are rather even in speed, although she should have a slight advantage there. He's stronger physically and as advanced as she is with ninjutsu his element trumps hers." Shikaku watched the two participants as the stood watching each other. "But he is unlikely to surprise her, while she holds some nice tricks up her sleeves."

"Any ideas on what her strategy is?" Masaru asked having become interested in the conversation from the adults. "I may be on her team, but her plans are either straightforward or seemingly random due to her uncanny bad luck."

"She'll act accordingly to what he throws at her, she probably has a good idea of what he can throw at her, or a vague idea, the more cards he reveals the better." Daichi who was sat right behind Masaru leaned forward. "In a team, improvising in such a way is harder because you want to work together. But alone, she becomes free to change strategy completely."

"She has a good endurance, she's fast and agile and dodging comes easy. In addition to that, she's good at planning ahead while still being talented on the whole 'thinking on your feet' aspect." Inoichi pointed out, Shikaku just hummed as he watched Biro launch at his daughter blade in hand.

For several minutes both of them gave each other a lot of blows in both taijutsu and kenjutsu. Biro was extremely careful of her blades, obviously wary of any poisons she might have – and probably had - coated them in. He managed to disarm her right hand and land some kicks to her legs and torso while he kept her other hands busy with his blade.

They spun around each other and clashed over and over again, Biro maintaining a quick distance from the shade of the arena walls and making sure she wouldn't be able to weave handsigns to trap him with her shadows.

At one moment the audience was on the edge of their seats as Biro managed to come to her back, locking the blade in her left hand with Biro's blade that had been aimed towards her right shoulder.

Shizuka now had her left arm across her chest and her blade blocking an attack to the back of her right shoulder. She took a moment to take a deep breath and spun around, momentarily releasing her tantō only to grasp it with her right hand. The audience was silent, as she continued her spin, she swung her right arm out, taking Biro's blade away from her, leaving an opening to his side, which she took advantage in with a strong punch to the lower ribs.

The whole thing lasted only seconds, and as a result, Biro loosened his grip on his blade which Shizuka used to disarm him with another flick of her right wrist.

Biro then jumped back gripping the side that had been punched.

"Impressive. Your doing I assume, Kouta?" Daichi glanced at his niece's sensei who had narrowed his eyes at the exchange.

"I taught her several ways of blocking blows to the back, but the improvement she's shown with her right hand has very little to do with me."

"Apparently she got several different people helping her train different aspects." Shikaku shrugged as he leaned forward to watch the boy from Suna starting more handsigns.

' _He knows his best bet is ninjutsu at this point. How can I beat his fire?'_ Shizuka crouched down slightly, her eyes focused on her opponent, for a moment she reached out her senses, her eyes widening momentarily before she lunged to the side.

Biro had launched several fire bullets at her and to her sides and above her, however, what caught Shizuka's attention was the Earth jutsu that had started popping up from the ground right under her.

Having been surrounded by fireballs and having an attack from under her she was in a dangerous situation.

She immediately let out some lightning chakra from her hand, just enough to keep her left hand from being encased in a mound of earth, but her right hand wasn't as successful and ended up trapped.

' _I can't move my hand; not even lightning chakra is helping. I need to get out now.'_ As soon as Biro started the handsigns for another jutsu Shizuka threw a smoke bomb directly in front of her so that she could hide from view. _'It took me way too long to realize he was converting earth chakra to fire… I really need to train that more.'_

Running low on time, Shizuka pours all her concentration and creating a thin thread of chakra a couple meters away from where she was, and once she was satisfied with the distance, she _pulled._

Sure enough, she landed near the intended area, but her aim had become much better running back to where she had been she tagged the mound her hand had been in with explosive tags and moved out of the explosion radius.

' _Boom.'_ Shizuka thought drily as the ground slightly shook from the impact. _'Now where is this guy… Underground… Alright, I can work with that.'_

She ran out of the smoke and after some handsigns, she pushes a heavy load of lightning chakra into the ground towards the area her opponent was in. When her opponent appears above ground his hair was spiky and you could _smell_ the difference in the air from the lightning.

Biro had travelled a fair distance underground from where he had launched the justus at her and where she sent the lightning.

' _I wonder if there are tunnels underground from where he moved…'_ She tried to expand her senses but her investigation was derailed as Biro launched more fire at her.

Recognizing the pattern of where the fire was going, instead of moving, she stayed put and pushed chakra into the ground just as it started to rise up. Once again her opponent disappeared underground and she let out a dramatic sigh.

Up in the stands the adults snorted at the disappointed face Shizuka had, earning themselves some curious looks. Taking pity on his friend and his sister's teammate Shikamaru explained.

"Does he really think using the same plan, that failed the first time will work?" Masaru and Chōji, who had arrived just after Shizuka threw her smoke bomb, nodded in understanding.

"She did say the Sand team used standard strategies, though this guy obviously can improvise more than his teammates," Kaito added as they watched Shizuka make some very familiar handsigns. "It's over."

As soon as Biro was within her range she completed her handsigns. Most Jōnin who were familiar with the sequence leaned forward in curiosity as the target genin wasn't above ground and so Shizuka didn't technically have anything to aim the jutsu at.

Except she did.

Using a slightly modified version of _**Kage Shibari**_ _(Shadow Bind)_ , Shizuka used her own shadow to dig _into_ the ground. The _**Kage Nui no Jutsu**_ _(Art of Shadow Stitching)_ allowed her to pierce the skin, even bone if it held enough strength, so why not ground?

Biro had been tunnelling his way with an Earth jutsu towards her, probably in an attempt to catch her off guard with an attack from below. Even knowing she could use lightning he still decided going underground was a good idea. Hence her disappointed expression.

Within her range and in a small _dark_ tunnel? Easy win for her.

For a moment the audience only saw her shadow darken dramatically, a sign her jutsu was in effect, and then the ground just a couple of steps away from her cracked and held up by several strings of shadows was Biro, covered in scratches from both shadows and the earth that had probably scraped against every exposed part of his body.

With her opponent trapped in her jutsu, it was an easy finish. She looked up at the proctor who didn't do anything at all, just watched the pair.

' _Seriously? This isn't enough? Fine… so troublesome.'_ Shizuka held her opponent in place while she considered how she would finish this.

She met her opponent's eyes an amused smirk blooming across her face as she noticed his glower.

Weaving some more handsigns, Shizuka made the shadows around Biro tighten and move towards his neck, a thin tendril wrapping around his throat. It wasn't tight enough to stop him from breathing, but the potential was there.

Shizuka looked expectantly at the proctor, her eyes then staring at Biro's incapacitated form every couple of seconds. With no response from him, Shizuka allowed the shadows to completely cover Biro and dropped him to the floor – probably more harshly than necessary – and kept him bound by the shadows.

"I'm don't want to strangle him, so if you could please call this match, he'd appreciate it." Shizuka huffed as she looked up to Raidō's perch on the wall.

"Aoki Biro is unable to continue. The winner of the second semi-final is Nara Shizuka." Raidō finally calls out, probably figuring Shizuka wouldn't do. "The final fight will occur tomorrow morning. Well done to all participants and good luck to the two finalists."

Shizuka takes a deep breath and winces as her ribs flare up. She makes her way to the exit and waits for her family and friends to make their way down to her.

"Well done, darling." Chōza was the first to congratulate her, having been the first one to spot her through the crowds. "How are you feeling, you took some hard knocks."

"Bruised ribs, but I'm sure they'll be better after a session with a medic nin."

Team four did their fist bump and her sensei gave her hair a ruffle, but she just rolled her eyes. It was already out of her braid from the fight anyway. With a hug from her mother, brother and Chōji and a shoulder squeeze from her father and Inoichi, the group move out of the arena and into the streets.

"How did you get out of those chains?" Kaito asked, this drew the attention of the adults and narrowed eyed looks from her family.

"Ah, explosive tag and body flicker. It wasn't a fully powered explosion either. Used the smoke to cover it up, but he had disappeared underground so I had to reveal it anyway."

The three genin talked a bit about the fights, Chōji and Shikamaru occasionally pitching in comments while the adults followed behind. The group broke apart as each made their way to their own house, Shizuka and Kaito giving each other a look before separating.

Sending Shikamaru off to his room, Shikaku guided his daughter to his study, his brother following behind. He let them both in and shut the door.

"What happened to not using the shadow travel?"

"I was trapped, zapping it didn't affect it at all. The only way to escape, but I'm much better at aiming now."

"Doesn't change the fact that you used it when you weren't supposed to. What if someone had seen you?"

"Then we would deal with it. It's a clan technique so it would be protected from anyone else trying to get information on it. I was careful, I made sure the smoke was thick enough to completely hide me. I wouldn't have done it if I had any other choice."

Shikaku sighed as he leaned back on his desk, while Daichi remained silent near the door.

"Shizuka, I really mean this when I say it: that technique is too dangerous to use in small situations like this. You made a promise and you broke it. Don't do it again."

"I'm sorry. I promise not to use it unless it is a life or death situation."

Shikaku stared at her for a few moments, their eyes locked before he nodded, pulling her into a hug.

"It was a good fight. Do you want to go to the hospital for those ribs or ask someone in the clan?"

"Mum knows a bit, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, she might be a little rusty, but I'm sure she can at least make it more comfortable."

"Speaking of good fight. Who have you been training with?" Daichi spoke as he approached the pair and making himself comfortable on one of the seats in front of the desk.

"Ah, well... Kouta-sensei with general training, you with wind, tō-san with clan jutsu, mom has pitched in with speed, Shisui-san and Itachi-san also gave me pointers in a couple areas." She listed off, counting them on her fingers, her father's and uncle's eyebrows slightly rose with the last two mentioned but didn't comment. "Oh! And Genma-san has been helpful with poisons and he's even introduced me to Anko-san who told me to go to her if I needed help with them too."

The two jōnin mentally groaned at the prospect of Shizuka training with Anko. First, the Hokage introduced her to one poison expert and now said poison expert introduced her to another. This would most likely have disastrous consequences.

"Let's go get something to eat, then some shogi and a nap? I'm sure you're exhausted." Daichi stood and led trio out of the study and towards the kitchen.


	16. The Final

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **The poll has closed! Final result:**

 **Genma – 51%**

 **Kakashi – 36%**

 **Itachi – 13%**

 **Thanks for all the votes! The romance is still a few chapters away, however with the chūnin exams over, there will be a wider variety of interactions.**

 **Also, sorry I took so long to update again, it took me a while to have any ideas for the fight (fight scenes really aren't my thing. And then I went on vacation and didn't spend that long on my computer. Oh well, practice makes perfect). On the bright side, its back to missions and soon more of the canon timeline events will pop up.**

 **Thanks! Hope you enjoy the last chapter of the chūnin exams!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 16 – The Final**

"You're not taking your weapons with paralytics?" Shikaku leaned on the door frame to his daughter's room, watching as she separated her weapons into different piles.

"Toxins have been overused in the competition. Besides, Kaito and I have the same source, therefore he likely has the antidotes."

"So, you both want to showcase other skills."

"Hai. We both know that winning is actually irrelevant, so we want to stall for a bit to showcase our skills."

"Something tells me you have a plan for that that Kaito hasn't been made aware of." Shikaku snorted at the attempt at an innocent façade his daughter put up.

"Me?"

"Let's go, or we'll be late." Shikaku huffed and ushered his daughter down the hallway.

Outside they were joined by Daichi, Shikamaru and Yoshino, the latter went through a checklist with her daughter to make sure she had everything she needed. Then the group of five started to move towards the stadium.

"You nervous, Zuka?" Daichi tugged on his niece's braid as they left the compound. "Kaito is strong, it'll be a challenge."

"It's bound to be an interesting final, I'm actually excited for it." Shizuka smiled back at him before turning to face ahead and waving at the Yamanaka's and Akimichi's who were waiting for them further down the main street.

"Shizuka-nee!" Ino greeted the older girl with a grin, "Congratulations on making the final!"

"Thank you, Ino-chan" Shizuka smiled at the people and the large group moved towards the gym. "I hope you all enjoy the fight."

"I'm sure it'll be very entertaining." Chōza gave her a pat on the shoulder as he fell into step with Inoichi, Shizuka's father and uncle.

' _I hope so...'_ Shizuka grinned before focusing on Ino's questions about the previous day and her plans for the fight.

* * *

"Welcome everyone, to the final of the Chūnin exams." Raidō stood in the centre of the arena, looking towards the Hokage's seat as a sign of respect. "Today, the two finalists are both genin of Konoha, both from team four I present, Hitotose Kaito and Nara Shizuka."

At his announcement, Kaito and Shizuka walked out from the tunnel and walked over to stand on either side of the proctor, each bowing towards the Hokage, then the proctor and each other.

"Good luck to both. The final starts... NOW!" As soon as he finished speaking the proctor returned to his ledge on the wall to stay out of the fight.

For a few moments, Kaito and Shizuka just stared at each other, before they each let a smile tug at their lips. With slow movements, Kaito reached for his katana, while Shizuka reached for both her tantōs.

As soon as Kaito settled into a defensive stance Shizuka was on him, her blades locking with his.

"So how long are we planning on dragging this out?" Kaito asked as he forced her to twirl away from his to avoid losing a hand.

"We are evenly matched in kenjutsu, so it'll be a battle of ninjutsu, endurance and planning." Shizuka smirked as she leaned backwards to avoid a swing and twirled towards Kaito.

As she approached him she reached into her pouch and pulled out a small item which she smoothly slid across his throat, before she flickered a few paces away to avoid getting stabbed.

"What?" Kaito reached towards his throat only to notice a tinge of red, though he knew it wasn't blood he turned to face Shizuka with a confused expression.

"One-zero, to me." Shizuka smirked, showing the item she had pulled from her pouch.

"A red marker, seriously?"

"Easier to keep track of." Shizuka grinned throwing the marker for him to catch. "If you get an opening for a fatal blow use the marker and we'll 'reset' and go again."

"Fair." Kaito shrugged and pocketed the marker, his eyes returning to Shizuka before he dashed forward launching a barrage of kunai on his way.

Shizuka blocked the barrage taking note of some kunai that had missed her by an abnormally large margin, at least when considering Kaito's level at throwing them. Before she could figure out what they were going to be, Kaito reached her with a strong swipe at her head, which she dodged under only to see his other hand with the marker heading towards her head.

As she took a step back, she noticed too late the glint of a wire and as soon as her leg came in contact with the wire the trap burst into flame. In the seconds after the trap was set off, Kaito leapt forward and slid the marker across Shizuka's throat.

"One all." Kaito returned the marker to his pocket and jumped back, ready to start again.

Shizuka flickered away from the flames, grumbling at the light burns on her shins. While uncomfortable she was sure it wouldn't slow her down too much.

* * *

"A marker? They are using markers in the final?" Masaru shook his head, while the other adults huffed in amusement.

"They are only warming up now, they are yet to use more impressive techniques." Kouta shrugged as he watched Shizuka cross her arms and tilt her head to the side.

"Why the markers then? If they leave opening like that they could finish the fight." Ino asked as she leaned over Chōji and Shikamaru to look at Shizuka's teammate and sensei.

"They want to show what they can do, neither care who wins. But the markers will help them identify weak spots."

"So, they are basically treating this as a regular spar?" Ino surmised her eyes darting back to the fight, where Shizuka and Kaito were trading strong blows with their blades, though neither had new marks.

"Pretty much. But I'm sure when they start to get tired they will do a proper fight, but they want to give each other opportunity to showcase their talents." Kouta had a small smile playing on his lips as Kaito got the upper-hand using a move he taught the boy a few weeks ago.

* * *

"And that makes two-one to me. Kouta-sensei was right. You do always fall for that one." Kaito teased as Shizuka rubbed at the marker spot on her chest just where her heart was.

Shizuka just shook her head and pulled out some senbon and kunai, launching them at Kaito and quickly launched into familiar handsigns.

" _ **Kage Shibari.**_ " _(Shadow Bind)_ Shizuka mumbled under her breath just as Kaito finished knocked the weapons off their path. "Shadow possession complete."

Kaito huffed as he felt Shizuka's jutsu take over his body.

"Nice timing. Connecting your shadow to that of the kunai and using it as a 'carrier' to get to mine. You're getting faster at it."

"Thanks. Though you messed up because you should've been watching out for that." Shizuka grinned as she reached her right hand for the non-existent pouch on her right leg. "Being left-handed really is an advantage with this jutsu."

She mimicked drawing an 'x' on her forehead, while Kaito just narrowed his eyes as he felt the marker paint a bright red x on his own forehead before the jutsu was released.

"The head seriously?"

"You already have a slit throat, needed a blank canvas." Shizuka shrugged before she shifted her stance again. "That ties us at two."

Kaito gripped his katana in his hand and in a quick burst of speed he dashed forward.

Shizuka's eyes widened at the afterimages of his movement. _'Well, kenjutsu training with Kouta-sensei has obviously yielded a lot of fruits…'_ Shizuka flew through handsigns for a Shunshin and moved out of the way, shrugging at Kaito's narrowed eyes.

In response, Kaito launched fireballs at her in quick succession forcing her to run around and then he bursts forward with the same kenjutsu attack as before, this time with a fireball to cover his advance.

He smirked victoriously as he marked a slash on the side of her neck with the red marker and then jumped back to create some space.

"My lead, three-two."

This time it was her turn to dash forward, with the use of the Shunshin she kept Kaito on his toes as they traded some blows. She slowly increased the tempo to the point that most civilians would barely be able to follow their movement.

She feigned a jab to his stomach which he moved to block with his katana, but with a further burst of speed she dodged under his blade and jabbed the marker in the middle of his chest marking another 'x' before grinning and flickering away.

"Three all!" Shizuka smiled as she pocketed her marker. "Let's take this up a notch. No more counting points."

"Bored already?"

"Yeah." Shizuka grinned sheepishly, "We've been at it for a while, let's make this one count."

* * *

"Finally." Shikamaru huffed as he leaned forward observing the subtle shifts in the stances of the two genin in the arena. "Seems like they are done counting points."

"Now that they seem to be on the final straight, who do you think will win?" Masaru glanced curiously at his teammate's little brother.

"Kaito can probably outlast Shizuka, but she's more likely to come up with a surprising plan." Shikamaru stated, his eyes remained fixated on the battle below.

In the row behind their kids sat the older generation of Ino-Shika-Chō, Daichi and Kouta

"Wonder what she's planning now?" Chōza briefly glanced at his friend from the corner of his eyes but his eyes quickly returned to the match below.

"She was gauging how much he improved." Daichi answered for his brother. "She had a basic idea of what he could do, so she was testing the waters. Now with practical experience, you can expect her to use the best tools at her disposal."

"Which are?" Masaru twisted in his seat to look at his teammate's uncle who smirked and nodded towards the arena floor.

"Too troublesome to explain. Just observe how their entire stances will shift."

Masaru grumbled at the lack of response and focused on the fight below. As soon as his eyes found his two teammates the audience gasped as Kaito launched a stab at Shizuka's stomach, with an actual kunai and seemingly made contact.

* * *

' _Much better now.'_ Shizuka thought as Kaito started pushing her away from any shadowed parts while simultaneously keeping her on the move, switching between ninjutsu, projectiles and occasionally engaging with his katana.

' _Now, he's trying to push me towards the tripwires from the beginning. Shame they reset the arena ground, those tunnels would've been handy.'_

Shizuka's eyes swept over the arena for a second as she dodged a wave of projectiles and with some quick handsigns.

" _ **Fūton: Toppa."**_ _(Wind Release: Breakthrough)_ The gust of wind sent to the ground propelled her further back, allowing her to land on one of the walls.

While the side she was on had the fewest amount of shadows, she didn't let it deter her as she flew though handsigns that had Kaito scrambling to the centre of the arena, leaving him just outside her range with the available shadows.

She was getting better at controlling multiple strands but was far from her father's skill with the _**Kuro Higanbana**_ _(Black Spider Lily),_ though she could manage two or three depending on the task.

She walked back to the arena ground as she launched two strands of shadows towards Kaito, putting him on the defensive as she kept him dodging those as well as small volleys of senbon. When she felt the jutsu wavering (she really needed to work on how long she could keep it working too) she made a show of taking a deep breath, sending Kaito an exaggerated wink when he narrowed his eyes at her.

She focused some chakra into her right hand and curled her fingers and launched forward drawing her left tantō. Instead of dodging Kaito engaged her with his katana, though his eyes widened fractionally when she managed to knock his blade away. The sound of the metal sliding away from them was in the back of his mind as he drew a kunai and drove it towards Shizuka's side, intent on pushing her away so that he could recompose himself.

He noticed too late her right hand moving towards his and it ended just above his hand holding the kunai, her torso leaned forward as the kunai hit her. For a moment his eyes widened and time seemingly slowed to a halt as Shizuka allowed her arms to fall to her sides and towards his hand holding the kunai.

He looked down and was about to forfeit when he saw small tendrils of shadows trail up his hand holding the kunai. Shizuka's head was looking down and as she looked up to meet his eyes he noticed her smirk.

' _She let me stab her to get close and trap me? No, she's not THAT reckless. Especially not for a competition... Wait, no... I can't feel any blood either.'_ Kaito's thoughts raced through his head.

The genin shook his head and dropped the kunai, the small tool fell to the ground with a clang. He tugged his hand and due to the rather small thin tendrils, he managed to pull away when he pulled back hard enough.

He hastily pulled a smoke bomb and threw it to the ground and ran out of its radius and stopped waiting for the smoke to clear, as he knew it was useless hiding from Shizuka.

* * *

Shikamaru would be lying if watching his sister apparently being stabbed didn't make his heart leap to his throat. He knew his sister was capable of defending herself and the Kaito's movement just then wasn't anything his sister couldn't have countered. But still, watching her hunch over the kunai in Kaito's hand wasn't something he expected to see. And judging by the sharp intake of breath from the adults behind him they didn't expect it either.

With his eyes focused on the point of contact he didn't see who threw the smoke bomb, but within moments the arena was flooded with smoke. He glanced back at the adults who were watching the smoke attentively.

"To-san?" Ino turned around to look up at her father. "You can sense her, right?"

"No. But she's ok, this is to her advantage."

"If you can't sense her, neither can Kaito. He needs out of the smoke or he'll just be a sitting duck." Kouta hummed, his eyes locating the general direction of his male student,

"I wonder what that was for… Shizuka wouldn't do something for no reason, she would deem it too troublesome." Masaru pitched in his eyes scanning the black cloud in hopes of glimpsing ether participants.

"I think I know why, but I hope I'm wrong." Daichi groaned as he made eye contact with Shikaku who also had a grim look in his eyes.

"You don't think she would…?" Yoshino piped in from her place beside her husband.

"We never mentioned anything about her not using it." Daichi confirmed, this drawing sharp looks from Chōza and Inoichi.

"You taught her _those_ already? Shikaku are you out of your mind?" Inoichi frowned at his teammate who simply stared into the smoke.

"Is that what landed her in the hospital last month?" Chōza asked from Shikaku's other side.

"She got curious. It was safer to teach her." With a pointed look at his two friends, which they understood as: 'there is more to this, I'll tell you about it sometime'.

Just as the smoke settles the two genin are revealed. Kaito was to the side, near the wall a decent distance away from Shizuka's range. While Shizuka seemed to not have moved with the exception of having straightened up.

The audience was silently observing the two silent and unmoving finalists waiting for what would surely be the final showdown.

* * *

Kaito observed his teammate from where he stood, his eyes trailing down to the side he had stabbed. But her usual grey jacket covered any possible tears and wounds, though he was still certain of his assessment that she hadn't been bleeding. And if she was it wasn't deep as his hand was clear of any trace of her blood.

Focusing again on his teammate he met her steady gaze as he thought of his next move. With a reasonable plan in mind, he glanced around the arena before moving to start its execution.

Well, he would have, if he _could._

"Shadow possession complete." Shizuka called as his eyes flew back to her face, his eyes catching the rat handsign she had just completed.

"I escaped the tendrils… How?" Kaito relaxed as the odd feeling of the shadow mimic technique forced his limbs to replicate the movements of his friend.

"The art of distraction. While you were occupied with the small ones I launched a new one to your feet." Shizuka walked forward until they were only a few feet apart. "When you ran away, it was a passive shadow dragged away by you moving. Hitching a ride, if you will."

"So simple." Kaito sighed as Shizuka shrugged. "Well, how are you finishing this?"

Shizuka tilted her head to the side before a smile took over her face.

"Medics."

At Kaito's answering frown, she pushed her jacket to the side, showing him the side he had attacked.

Her black shirt had a wound on the side, between her hip and waistline. It wasn't wide, and by its location, it wouldn't have pierced anything vital, but by the way, the shirt clung to her it was clear that it was bleeding profusely.

"If you're wondering how I'll tell you some other time." Shizuka whispered, her hand releasing the bottom of her jacket before she turned towards the proctor. "I forfeit. I'm low on chakra and bleeding quite a bit."

No sooner had the words left her mouth the shadows which kept Kaito in place flickered almost like a light right before burning out. Shizuka took the moment to grip her side with a wrinkled nose as she put pressure on her side.

"You've got to be kidding me." Kaito's eyes widened as Raidō appeared close by. "Shizuka what the hell."

"We don't need to know who is stronger, we work together and our strengths complement each other. We've been fighting for a while, we're even."

"Then its a draw." Kaito turned to the proctor but Shizuka gave him a tiny shock as she pinched his arm, effectively shutting him up.

"I don't want to continue fighting." She ignored Kaito's indignant expression and spoke directly at the proctor, showing him her bleeding side. "I refuse to use more dangerous techniques for this competition and quite frankly I don't think I need to."

Raidō nodded and turned to the Hokage's box to announce the winner when he heard Shizuka mumble under her breath, causing him to suck in a deep breath in amusement.

"Besides I just want a nap after the intense month of training we had."

Kaito just pinched the bridge of his nose and opened his mouth to argue, but a glare from Shizuka shut him up.

"The winner of the Chūnin Exams Tournament is Hitotose Kaito." Raidō gestured to Kaito who gave a bow and Shizuka clapped for him before she was ushered out by some medics, who immediately took over keeping the pressure on the wound.

* * *

Kaito was led inside to be congratulated by the Hokage and even had his photo taken for the local newspaper. After talking to some important people and giving a small interview to some reporter he realised what Shizuka meant by 'just wanting a nap'.

By the time all of that was done and he managed to leave and greet his family and all that he met up with his sensei and Masaru.

"Shizuka's family invited everyone over for a barbeque at their house." Kouta-sensei explained as his family, sensei and his male teammate started to walk towards the Nara compound.

"She's already home?"

"You've been _busy_ for the last two hours." Masaru smirked at Kaito's surprised expression. "Should've seen how happy she was when they sent her home. I'm one hundred per cent sure she'll be asleep when we get there."

Kaito rolled his eyes as they entered the Nara compound, the group making their way to the house at the end of the main path. They walked around the house to the back garden where they could hear talking and laughter.

"You're all here! Just in time!" Yoshino smiled as she walked out with some plates for the guests. "Meat should be almost ready, Miku-chan, Chōji's mother is preparing it over there."

They looked over to the small building a little to the side, where the Akimichi matriarch and her husband were standing over the grill.

"Hope you enjoy." Yoshino smiled as the group dispersed throughout the yard. "Kaito-kun! Congratulations, it was quite the fight!"

"Thank you, Yoshino-san. Where is Shizuka-chan? I believe she owes me some answers."

"My daughter is napping just on the porch around the corner." The Nara clan head said as he approached offering his hand for the young genin to shake. "Well done it kept us all very entertained."

"Thank you, Shikaku-san. I'll go get those answers now."

Kaito moved around the back of the house and around the corner, easily spotting Shizuka's slumbering form on one of the benches.

With a quick glance at Masaru and nod the two genin walked towards their teammate and with a cushion each, they both hit her lightly with them. Both cringing when they felt a jolt from where Shizuka touched their arms.

"If you're trying to sneak up on me try compressing your chakra." She opened her eyes lazily smirking as they rubbed the spot where she had shocked them. "How was your afternoon, Kaito? Busy, I've heard."

"You knew. Meeting the Hokage, people from the Daimyō's palace, important people. Interview with the local newspaper, photos." Kaito collapsed on the bench next to her once she sat up. Masaru taking the spot in front of them.

"Obviously." Shizuka smirked as she leaned back, "I really didn't want to go through all that."

"So you left me alone to suffer through all that instead of sharing the victory in a draw." Kaito scowled

"Pretty much."

"So much for teamwork." The three genin heard a snort in amusement and turned as their sensei approached them.

"I believe you promised us an explanation." Masaru turned back to Shizuka once their sensei had settled by his side.

"Without going into details, my hospital visit was due to an _experiment_ with my clan's techniques. I'm forbidden from using it as its dangerous."

"What does it do?" Kouta-sensei crossed his arms focused on his student with a stern look as he wasn't too pleased with her 'experiments'.

"Kind of like the body flicker but _through_ the shadows."

"So, the kunai today…" Kaito trailed off, his eyes darting down to her side.

"A mixture between that and another family jutsu, basically an armour of shadow, but I'm far from mastering that one."

"Why did I have to get stuck with a Nara with a propensity for dangerous experiments?" Kouta sighed dramatically as he tilted his head back towards where the rest of the people were. "I'll talk to your father about that, but everything else can wait. Team four deserves a week or so off."

"Thank you, Sensei!" The three genin chorused with wide grins, all looking forward to their break.


	17. Upgrade

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Back to normal updating schedule (every Saturday or Sunday).**

 **Shifting gears in this chapter, as they have some free time before settling back into a normal routine.**

 **Suggestions and feedback are always welcome.**

 **Thanks for reading! And hope you enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 17 - Upgrade**

Shizuka smiled for the flash of the camera but as soon as it was over she scowled at her smirking teammate to the side of the room.

The Chūnin exams had proven to be fruitful and four Konoha genin were promoted. Aburame Shun, Inuzuka Hana, Hitotose Kaito and herself.

She walked over to where Hana and Kaito stood and Shun moved to have his photo taken.

"Couldn't avoid this one, could you?" Hana smiled as the Nara sat next to her, watching in amusement as the photographer positioned Shun for his photo.

"Unfortunately." Shizuka reached over and shocked Kaito as he snorted at her. "Ah, look they're finished. We can finally go do relevant things."

Shun approached the trio and the four of them immediately walked out, their new vests oddly clean and new compared to the others around the administration building.

"Ah, Shizuka-chan, before you go, we need to have a word with the Hokage." Kouta-sensei said once he spotted the group walking by.

Shizuka and Kaito refused to drop the honorific despite their new rank technically allowing them to.

"Ah yes, I forgot we needed to inform him of that 'development'" Shizuka sighed and turned to the other three. "I'll see you guys at the 'party' later, right?"

The three newly promoted chūnin nodded and waved goodbye, each to their own home to show their families their new vest.

Kouta led Shizuka back into the building and they only had to wait for a moment before being allowed in to see the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, thank you for seeing us." Kouta spoke as he and Shizuka rose from a bow.

"I believe this meeting is to bring certain abilities to light?" He clasped his hands in front of him as he observed the young Nara who met his gaze steadily. "Why now?"

"I didn't want to bring too much attention to myself." Shizuka shrugged, "As chūnin sensing will become a more useful skill anyways, so I might as well put it to use."

"But that's not a speciality you want." The Hokage pointed out.

"I still don't want to work with only tracking, I'd become bored too easily." Shizuka agreed, sparring her sensei a glance before looking back to the Hokage, "However I'd be willing to be on the 'roster' and occasionally be pulled into missions where such skill is required but my preference continues with infiltration."

The Hokage glanced at the jōnin who gave a nod to afirm his agreement.

"Very well. Although I must point out that intel has already requested you for a rotation there, I'm sure you'll be entertained with their cases."

Shizuka smirked, having already expected that, knowing that Inoichi had blabbed about her mind maps to someone in his division.

"Of course." Shizuka glanced at her sensei, "What will happen to team four?"

"We will continue training together, Kaito will compete in the next chūnin exams with Kenji and another genin." Kouta nodded towards the Hokage.

"Mission wise, I believe you are all capable of slightly more advanced missions, so no more D-ranks. Although you and Kaito are now on the chūnin roster and might be requested for missions with other teams."

"Hai, thank you, Hokage-sama." Shizuka bowed and Kouta echoed her before they left the office and administration building.

Just as they exited the main building they met up with Izumo and Kotetsu who were carrying boxes full of scrolls.

"Well, well, if it isn't the tiniest chūnin in the village." Kotetsu teased causing Shizuka to roll her eyes.

"Welcome to the ranks." Izumo grinned, "Don't be late to the party! You are one-quarter of the guests of honour tonight."

"See you later, boys, sensei." Shizuka smiled and waved goodbye to the older shinobi as she made her way home.

* * *

Later that afternoon Shizuka and Shikamaru were playing a shogi game when their father and uncle walked onto the porch.

"Look at that shiny new vest. You should probably do some training in it so that its a bit roughed up and doesn't look brand new." Daichi picked up Shizuka's vest which was draped over the bench on the bench off to the side.

"How was the meeing with the Hokage?" Her father asked as he ruffled her hair, his eyes studying the board between his two children. "Stop cheating, Shizuka."

"Oh, come on." Shizuka groaned as her brother's head snapped to her, his eyes narrowed in a glare, "How could you possibly know I was cheating."

"You usually do." Shikaku snorted, "You can probably win against Shikamaru without cheating."

"But I'm practising to beat you." She mumbled and took a moment to carefully choose a piece to move instead of the automatic plays she had been doing.

"You're playing by a win or lose probability?" Daichi snorted as he over Shikamaru's shoulder to look at the board. "That's a lot of permutations to memorise."

"Still not finished actually." Shizuka shrugged as she continued the game with her brother. "Don't think I ever will. But it's nice to play by that without having planned ahead."

"That's a direct opposition to the purpose of the game." Shikaku sighed, "You haven't answered my question."

"Officially on the list of sensors of the village. Did you know someone wants me for a rotation at intel already?"

"Inoichi may have mentioned something of the sort." Shikaku answered, "They have some open large-scale operations that you would enjoy both in solving and in infiltration."

"Sounds fun."

"You should wrap up the game and get ready for that party." Daichi pointed out.

"I suppose I should." Shizuka sighed, glancing at the shiny new vest in her uncle's hand. "Alright, why don't you play the last five rounds, tō-san?"

"Five?" Shikamaru asked but his sister just gave him a smile and a wave before disappearing inside the house.

"She already had you, you just fell past the point of no return." Daichi stated as Shikaku sat down in the place Shizuka had just vacated.

"She cheated the entire game." Shikamaru grumbled.

"But you didn't notice. But she actually had a strategy for the last few." Shikaku played the game to the end. "It's easy to spot once you know what you're looking for."

"You're going to have to teach me that." Shikamaru sighed, "How troublesome..."

"Later. Judging by the smell from the kitchen, dinner is almost ready." Daichi led the way back inside.

* * *

Shizuka arrived at the party at the same time as Hana and they greeted each other outside.

"You ready to for this?" Hana teased as they looked into the venue, a restaurant bar that was crowded with Chūnin.

"Nope." Shizuka sighed as she turned to look at the darkening night sky. "Why are we doing this again?"

"Because we need to meet the people we'll be going on missions with."

"Weak excuse. We'll meet them during our new responsibilities anyways." Shizuka scoffed, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

"There will probably be some induction thing for us..." Hana was cut off as a round of laughter sounded from within, "Let's go, it can't turn out too bad."

Shizuka narrowed her eyes at the older girl before uncrossing her arms and walking into the party, the two of them easily being noticed by some other attendees.

"Tiny! Hana! Glad you're both here!" Izumo cheered as he swung his arms around each of their shoulders. "Let's get this all started!"

He led the two girls over to Shun and Kaito who were sitting awkwardly between a couple of chūnin telling some stories about their first few missions as chūnin. Kotetsu, having been one of them, noticed who his friend was leading he stood up and called for everyone's attention.

"All of our newest chūnin have arrived! Firstly: welcome to the ranks!" Kotetsu smirked at the shuffling the quartet did before he started pointing at each one of them, "Aburame Shun, Hitotose Kaito, Inuzuka Hana and Nara Shizuka, we're looking forward to working with you all."

The chūnin cheered and while the other three just sighed at being the centre of attention Shizuka just glared between Izumo and Kotetsu, who she was pretty sure had organized this entire thing.

"We have a little _induction challenge_ for you," Izumo smirked as he pulled out reinforced cuffs. "Your task is to get out of these reinforced cuffs, not chakra dampening as we – unfortunately - couldn't get a hand on any of those. And lock them on one of your competitors."

"Rules are simple: No chakra. No outside help, there is a key somewhere here, but good luck finding it. And please don't break the cuffs. If we catch you cheating you are disqualified. Whoever wins gets to have one shift covered by each of the others."

As Kotetsu explained what the challenge entailed Izumo and a few other chūnin locked the cuffs around each of their wrists and behind their backs. Once they all were secured the chūnin took a step back and a small circle formed around them, allowing them some space.

Shizuka took a moment to look around her friends. Shun had his usual blank face but judging by how his fingers were twitching he was seemingly annoyed at the rather dull task. Hana looked excited as her eyes scanned the room for something to get her out of the cuffs. Kaito was already moving his wrists around probably testing how much he could move before he decided on a plan.

"Ready. Set. GO!" Izumo and Kotetsu cheered and the chūnin started yelling encouragement as the three of them started wiggling around rather pathetically, while Shizuka just picked up a couple toothpicks from the counter.

She kept her eyes on her competitors who were either trying to move their arms to their front or trying to get an item to fit through the lock. She quickly moved her arms under her legs and received some cheers as she got her arms in front of her.

Reaching up she pulled a strand of her hair and wrapped it around two toothpicks to make it slightly stronger. She moved the toothpicks into the lock and focused on the shadow of her hand stretching it into the lock together with the picks.

Using the shadows to poke around she felt one pin click into place. She looked up and shook her head, snorting at the laughter from the chūnin at her apparent failure. Taking the toothpicks back out, she walked around the counter, looking next to the counter she found a cup full of pens and pencils. Smirking she dumped the contents and shuffled them around until she found a paperclip.

' _Perfect.'_ She moulded the paperclip, not really caring and attached it to the end of the toothpicks by wrapping the other end around the wooden picks. While behind the counter she again focused on her shadow before moving her little contraption into the lock.

 _Click_

Removing the cuffs she raised them to eye level and shook them smirking at the answering cheer from the crowd. Looking at her friends, she noticed Shun was nearly out and walked over to Kaito.

"Sorry, Kai, you're the closest one to me." Shizuka smiled sweetly as she locked the cuffs onto her teammate's wrists answering his glare with a ruffle of his hair.

"Tiny has won! Looks like you're having three shifts covered!" Kotetsu cheered and as she walked over to one of the tables and slumped down at Masaru's side.

"How did you do it?" Masaru asked as he kept his eyes trained on the other three, clapping when Shun got out of his cuffs and locking them onto Kaito as well.

"Weren't you watching? Paperclip and toothpicks."

"Sure..." His eyes narrowed as he looked at her, Shizuka met his gaze levelly before sighing.

"Fine, I may have used shadows, the rest was for show to cover it up."

"That sounds more like you."

Moments later Hana cheered as she got herself free, nearly skipping over to where Kaito had just slumped down, defeated.

Izumo retrieved the key and unlocked the cuffs, and storing them away while the chūnin dispersed around the room to different tables and the bar.

The new chūnin congregated at the table along with Kenji and Masaru who were there to support their teammates. Each had a soft drink as none of them was allowed to drink yet.

"To a new page in our careers." Kaito said as they clinked their glasses.

"And Kenji and Masaru who will have an intense six months till the next exams." Shizuka added, the chūnin smirking at the wrinkled noses of the two genin.

"At least we won't have new duties. You guys will barely have any free time." Masaru sniffed as put his drink back on the table.

"Well see about that." Shizuka's lips quirked into a sly smile, one her teammates recognized very well and it wasn't usually good news for them.

* * *

For a couple hours, they sat around the table eating and telling stories and even planning some training sessions to improve their skills. They would occasionally be called over by Izumo and Kotetsu to be introduced to other people they would work with.

Over three hours into the party, team four found themselves alone at their table, each simply looking around the room and commenting on people they met and what they knew about their areas of expertise.

Eventually, they grew tired of commenting on other people and simply lapsed into silence as they ate the snacks on the table.

"So what happens to team four now?"

"We continue together. Kaito and I will occasionally be off on another task, but they will either fill in or go with fewer people depending on the mission rank." Shizuka said as she munched on some chips from the bowl on the table.

"We're also only taking C-ranks of all types, but we'll be allowed higher ranked infiltration if it's not too complicated." Kaito supplied as he picked some up as well.

"And training wise?"

"Kouta-sensei will still teach us, but well he'll give you priority." Shizuka smirked at Masaru's expression, "Don't worry, it's only for six months until the next chūnin exams."

"And on that topic, you'll be taking missions and doing some training with Kenji and maybe another genin who are up to those exams." Kaito smiled, "But I'm sure if they will be fine."

"They'll never be as good as you two." Masaru quirked a smile, "I suppose you two will train with me separately?"

"Shizuka will help you more on the tactical and mental sides, while I'll cover more ninjutsu." Kaito nodded before smirking at Shizuka who let out a large yawn, "Looks like Zuka is getting tired already."

"Yeah, I think I'll head out now. I still need to say goodbye to some people."

"See you! Enjoy your week off!" Kaito and Masaru bumped fists with her before she left.

Shizuka walked around until she found Izumo and Kotetsu, thanking them for the party. She also made sure to wave goodbye to Hana's team and a couple other people she had met throughout the party.

She walked around the counter again, this time heading towards the exit when she heard someone call her.

"Well done on the little challenge." Shizuka turned around to see Genma and a few other shinobi around a booth. "Though I'm pretty sure you cheated."

"Does it really matter?" Shizuka rolled her eyes before smirking, "Don't you have anything else to do other than crash a chūnin party?"

"For your information, I was invited. Though I'm not sure about them." Genma replied as he nodded towards the other tokujo around the booth, "Besides I was curious to see how long you lasted. This isn't exactly your setting."

"Too loud and too many people. Bad headache." Shizuka shrugged, causing some to raise their eyebrows, "Ah, I forget it's not exactly common knowledge yet. I'm a sensory type, kept it hidden until now, but officially on that list."

"Welcome to the list then. I'm Yamashiro Aoba, we'll probably be working together." He reaches over for a handshake, "What's your range so far?"

"My max is four miles but I block pretty much everything out for that. As in I will not even hear you talking. The downside I get a massive headache from it too." Her answer caused some looks to be exchanged and Aoba gave an impressed hum.

"We can do some training, maybe a way to filter things better as four miles is a lot of ground to cover."

"Ah, that would be much appreciated, thank you!" Shizuka gave a small smile before Genma gestured to the other ninjas.

"This is Gekkō Hayate, often trains with your sensei as he's another kenjutsu specialist. I believe you've met Tokuma before."

"Hai. Good to see you, Tokuma-san. Nice meeting you, Hayate-san." Shizuka gave small nods to each before turning to look over her shoulder. "Anko-senpai! Anything new?"

"Tiny! We just some nin from Kiri, very interesting poisons. Surprised Genma hasn't mentioned them to you yet." Anko cheered as she slung an arm around the Nara, "Why don't you pop into the lab sometime, I'll give you a rundown of the tests."

"Sounds sweet. How about the day after tomorrow?"

"Fantastic. Have you made any developments on the other ones I recommended?"

"Not much as I've been busy, but I'll take what I have to show you." Shizuka smirked as the other's eyes flicked between her and Anko as they talked about their experiments before sending weary expressions towards Genma who simply shrugged.

"Can't wait to see what your little brain has mixed up." Anko ruffled her hair while grinning broadly as the rest of the table mentally shivered.

"Well, as nice as this is, I'm exhausted so I'm calling it a night."

"Aw, tiny is tired, is she?" Genma teased as Shizuka took a step back from Anko and the table.

"See you all around." She turned on her heal and with a wave over her shoulder she started to make her way home.

* * *

"Well, back to the grinding." Masaru stretched as they waited for their sensei to arrive at the gate.

"At least you don't have new responsibilities." Shizuka sighed, "The new chūnin are expected to do a couple rotations at the gate, patrols, lead missions, and even rotations at Intel, T&I, more paperwork…" She trailed off her tone dull obviously conveying her annoyance.

"Don't sound too excited, Shizuka." Kouta's tone dripped with sarcasm, "Besides, it's only been a week, wait till you become jōnin."

Shizuka for a moment looked pained before her shoulders slumped and she jumped to the trees.

"At least the busier she is the less 'experimenting' she'll do." Kaito snorted as the other three members of team four leapt after her.

"On the other hand, think of all the people she'll be meeting." Masaru pointed out, "I saw her yesterday at the dango place with a purple haired woman, they were so focused on a scroll that Shizuka didn't even see me."

' _Well, there goes any free time I wished to have with their promotion.'_ Kouta sighed as he started plotting how to keep Shizuka's free time to a minimum.


	18. Leading

"Speaking."

 _'Thinking'_

 ** _Jutsus_**

* * *

 **Chapter 18 - Leading**

"Shizuka, Kaito well done! Why don't the two of you head home? I heard you had a night patrol yesterday." Kouta smiled as the two chūnin relaxed from their sparring positions. "Masaru, break is over! Let's see how far you got on that jutsu from last week."

"Thank you, Sensei! Have fun, Masa!" Shizuka called as she and Kaito collected their things and waved the other half of their team goodbye. "You have anything today?"

"No. Only if a mission pops up." Kaito stretched as they walked down the main path leading out of the training area district. "How about you? When are you doing that rotation at the intelligence division?"

"I have training with Itachi later on. Rotation starts at the end of the month, though Inoichi-Oji is giving me the tour later this week." Shizuka glanced at the sky, watching the clouds lazily drift by. "It's kind of boring at home now that Shika is in the academy."

"Is he enjoying it?" Kaito snorted at Shizuka's raised eyebrow expression.

"Competing for the dead last place, actually. Sleeping in class, he's fine."

"Only your family would take that as perfectly okay. Ka-chan would have killed me. How is your mother okay with this?"

"She expected me to be like that, but I was too curious and got into trouble. There was never a hope for two non-lazy Naras."

As they came to the main road they waved goodbye and proceeded to their own houses. On the way home, Shizuka stopped to get groceries for her mother and popped into the flower shop to say hi to Akira, Ino's mother, and left promising to stop by another time for tea.

She spent the afternoon helping her mother cook and even went to her father's office to deliver food, which he grumbled about as she woke him from his nap.

"It's a miracle anything gets done in this office considering how many times I've come here to find you asleep." Shizuka teased as she munched on an apple as her father ate the lunch and worked on paperwork at the same time.

"But it does get done in the end, so nobody is going to complain," Shikaku smirked at his daughter who shrugged. "How was the night shift yesterday?"

"Boring, but I didn't expect anything else." Shizuka threw the core of her apple out and shrugged her vest back on. "I'm training with Itachi this afternoon, but I'll see you at dinner."

"Good luck." Shikaku nodded as his daughter left the office, his eyes drifting to the pile of paperwork and with a defeated sigh he picked up a new document.

* * *

"Congratulation on your promotion."

"Thank you, Itachi- _senpai,_ " Shizuka smirked as Itachi's eyes twitched in annoyance at the title. "I see we have an audience today."

"Itachi-nii said I could watch you train." Sasuke tilted his chin up, almost daring her to say he couldn't stay.

"Well no secret jutsus in today's training, I suppose." Shizuka mocked before pulling out her tantōs. "Usual warm up?"

"Indeed." Itachi drew his usual katana and stood to face her, his eyes flickering to the usual red.

Easily shifting her eyes to his feet, she dashed forward, knowing he wouldn't make the first move.

Sparring with an Uchiha was always an interesting affair. While normally Shizuka could depend on watching every move a person made, including subtle eye movements, up against an Uchiha she was constrained to watching from the shoulders down. Luckily she could use her sensing to help out when they move into ninjutsu, but even then this only came after several training sessions.

She grunted as Itachi landed a swift kick to her thighs and sheathed one of her tantōs to grasp at his leg, forcing him to jump backwards.

"Focus."

"Why does everyone say that when sparring me?" Shizuka muttered with an exasperated eye roll.

"Because your thoughts _always_ drift elsewhere." Itachi narrowed his eyes, though if she had looked she would have seen his eyes dancing with the slightest spark of amusement.

"That was a rhetorical question."

"Then you shouldn't have asked." Itachi's deadpanned as he launched into a combo of strikes forcing her backwards and to the side, putting her in the corner of the training ground.

The pair continued to spar for nearly half an hour, switching between their usual fast-paced blows to something slower for Sasuke's entertainment.

Although it took a while, with a burst of speed and a new move Kouta-sensei had taught her she managed to disarm Itachi. As his katana bounced uselessly on the ground behind him Shizuka looked up to meet his eyes with a broad grin.

"You've learnt new moves." Itachi launched backwards, not bothering with a genjutsu as Shizuka's control over chakra and her sensing abilities would allow her to break it easier. _'Although she should probably practice casting them more.'_ He added to himself mentally.

Shizuka rather enjoyed their spars when they involved ninjutsu, despite her always losing. She started testing her theory of element prediction, and as both of them used wind jutsus they traded jutsus when they had a new one.

For a long while, the two launched jutsus while the other either countered it with one of their own or dodged the attack. Itachi gracefully evaded all of Shizuka's shadows while launching wind enhanced projectiles.

Just as they reached a small break in their spar, Shizuka's eyes turned toward the direction she knew was the Uchiha compound.

"Incoming." Shizuka nodded towards a high branch on the tree to their side just moments before Shisui landed on it.

"Itachi, your presence is needed." Shisui glanced quickly at Shizuka sending her a small nod. "Congratulations, Shizuka-chan. I'm sure you'll do well in the future."

"Thank you, Shisui-san." Shizuka nodded back before turning to Itachi who was already picking up his things. "You know where to find me. Sasuke-kun, good luck with the academy."

With mirrored nods from the Uchiha siblings, she made her way down the patch in the direction of the Nara compound. She sighed as she left the empty path and into the main road which was filled with people running errands or on their way to their own homes.

She was so busy watching people going about their day that she didn't notice a jōnin approach her.

"Nara-san, the Hokage has a mission for you. You are to be at the tower in half an hour." Shizuka glanced over the woman, her mind linked her to a desk job at the Hokage tower as well as a messenger but came up blank when it came to her name.

"Thank you. Have a nice evening." Shizuka smiled politely and sighed once the woman disappeared back into the crowd.

 _'There goes my nap time.'_ Shizuka jumped onto the roof for the quickest way home.

* * *

As soon as she was inside she gave her mom a kiss on the cheek and tried to get a spoonful of the aromatic broth she was making only to get a slapped by the wooden spoon her mother was using to stir.

"Got called for a mission. No idea about length or anything, I'll get a note. Love you, bye!" After sneaking another kiss to her cheek.

"Be careful!"

Dashing into her room she got her mission pack and checked the number of supplies she had. _'One month should do.'_ Quickly popping into the shower, she finished getting ready before dashing down the hallway and checking the backyard finding her uncle and brother curved over a Shogi match.

"Got a mission. Bye!"

Getting nothing but mumbled goodbyes, Shizuka ran back out of the house and towards the Hokage tower. On the way, she caught up with Kaito, who also had his mission pack, and they ran the rest of the way.

They are sent to the Hokage's office as soon as they arrive and are greeted by Aburame Shun and Yamanaka Emiko.

"Hokage-sama." Kaito and Shizuka give a swift bow before they line up with the other two chūnin.

"Thank you all for coming on a short notice." The Hokage's eyes drifted across the faces before him as he took a puff fro his pipe, "We received intel that a mercenary group is about to close a deal near our border with Land of Rivers."

He reached into a drawer in his desk and pulled out a folder as well as a scroll, sliding the folder over to Emiko who flicked through it before passing it on to Shizuka.

"The mission is to track him to the group's hideout, basic reckon and if possible make a capture for information retrieval."

 _'Tracking, infiltration and possibly interrogation, good team selection.'_ Shizuka thought as she passed on the file to Kaito.

"This is classed as a high C-rank for the sole reason that it will require a lot, as well as the fact that the opponents while not shinobi, are somewhat trained mercenaries. They might have some genin ranked rogue nin, but we have no reason to believe they have anyone of significance in their employ."

"Who is the captain?" Kaito questioned as the file passed on to the last member of the team.

"This being primarily an infiltration mission, Shizuka will be the captain. Good luck." Shizuka stepped forward to receive the scroll with the mission details, a swift nod in thanks to their leader before falling back in line with the others.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The quartet chorused before they bowed and left the office starting their ways to the gates.

* * *

"Zuka, what's the plan then?" Kaito asked a few minutes after they started tree jumping.

"Couple days to the city, we'll be there about three days before the negotiation was set to happen. We'll have to do some cross-referencing with the things in the folder, mainly known associates." Shizuka glanced back, a wide grin on her face, "Probably going to be one of the largest mind maps I've made."

"Joy…" Kaito mumbled, "I assume you'll stay in the room setting that up while we scout the town?"

"Yes, Emiko, I apologize in advance for the mess our room will be." Shizuka sent a smile to the blonde, who just shrugged.

"My mother heard from Inoichi about the mind maps. I wouldn't expect anything less."

"Once we locate the mercenary we will follow him to base. Bugs and our," Shizuka gestured between her and Emiko, "sensory abilities should give us an idea of numbers, depending on what we find the plan is adapted."

"Do you reckon we'll need backup?" Emiko asked as she fell into step with Shizuka.

"It'll depend on whether the person will lead us to their main base or not. This group is large enough that they have more than one hideout for sure, but we aren't sure how many. If we encounter the bulk of the force than yes, we'll probably need to call for backup."

"Unless we do it totally incognito. Grab just the information and leave without them even suspecting we were there." Kaito suggested from his point at the back of the group.

"If it's a small group we can deal with everything, medium incognito is ideal, if it's large then we scout and plan whether we're doing this quietly or getting backup and dealing."

"You don't seem to have any faith in that last idea." Shun stated from his position of the point.

"Big takedowns take time and planning, if we destroy the main base without plans for the smaller ones, those who aren't there will go underground, and it would be harder to find them." Shizuka explained as she focused ahead with a thoughtful expression, "The Hokage didn't say we needed to engage, only basic reckon and possibly a capture to bring back, which means observing the hideout and capturing a group leaving on a task so that they wouldn't be missed immediately."

"So, basically the last part of this mission is up in the air." Emiko surmised with a grim look, "I don't like those types of missions."

"Too many variables for the ending, but at least we're not dealing with shinobi but civilian mercenaries." Shizuka shrugged as if it didn't really bother her (but it did).

"I really hope you didn't jinx us just then." Kaito huffed, earning him a glare from his teammate.

* * *

They made good time to the town and checked into a hotel on the edges of the town under civilian disguises. The girls to one room and the guys to the other. The ascended the stairs to the rooms and before parting in the hallway they checked over their duties.

"I'll go through our usual introduction in town: layout, people, business." Kaito stated as he dropped his bag to the floor.

"Emiko and Shun, while today is basic intel gathering, if you, Emiko, you need to keep an eye out for shinobi and also suspicious behaviour or possible buyers." Shizuka turned to the two chūnin, her eyes stopping on Emiko as the older chūnin spoke up.

"Any idea on what the sale is for?"

"Probably a sale of information or workers." Shizuka shrugged as she pulled the scroll the file was sealed in from her bag, "I'll have a better look and see if I can find out. Shun, use your bugs to plant them on suspicious people, mark locations you think would be good places to gather information and so on."

"We'll pass on important information and have you tag them if we find something. We have about four hours until its dark." Emiko nodded to Shun who answered with a nod of his own.

"Try to meet every two hours, I trust you'll find a good place to meet and exchange information. If you have an emergency come and get me. I'll head out if I finish this early."

With nods of acceptance, the boys retreated to their room and the girls walked into theirs.

"Need help shifting things around?" Emiko asked as she dropped her bag on one of the futons.

"That would be helpful, thanks." Shizuka smiled at the Yamanaka. "How is your mother? She missed the last barbeque."

"My younger brother was sick and so she had stayed behind to care for him. He's still annoyed you graduated early instead of staying in his class." Emiko teased as she helped Shizuka move the table against the far wall.

"He can deal. He graduated recently, right?"

"Just about two months ago. I get to hear him complain about D-ranks every dinner."

"At least he's energetic. Can you imagine when Shikamaru starts? He's already lazy and complains about the academy, that plus the usual D-rank whining? I'll go crazy." Shizuka pushed her futon into the corner.

"He'll be too lazy to complain besides the classic 'Troublesome.' Poor soul will probably be on Ino's team. He'll complain more about her than the missions." Emiko and Shizuka burst into giggles just as the door opened revealing Kaito and Shun.

"You two done gossiping yet?" Kaito teased as he opened the door a little wider gesturing for Emiko to head out with them.

"No. But we can do so later. Good luck! And stay out of trouble!" Shizuka waved as she pulled out the scroll and unsealed the folder.

"From what I've heard _we_ should be telling _you_ that." Shun deadpanned, causing Kaito and Emiko to snort in amusement while Shizuka narrowed her eyes at the bug user.

As soon as the three left, Shizuka went about separating the papers into different piles. Pictures, reports, notes she scribbled on from observations and then into areas of involvement. High ranking within the group, foot workers, contacts, buyers, affiliation with politicians. Once she was satisfied with the division she set about drawing the connections with her coloured strings and attaching them with senbon.

The hours flew by and Shizuka had just about three-quarters of an hour before the others returned. Sighing as she inspected the tangled web of strings on the floor, she decided to look over everything once more moving things around to help understand things slightly better.

Just as she finished going over the finalised map the others came into the room with dinner.

"That seems complicated." Kaito stated as he stopped next to her looking at the map. He tilted his head and shoved the bag with their food in her hands before leaning over and plucking one of the strings, tracing it over to the group of known associates.

"Oh, you got dumplings!" Shizuka grinned and threw an arm around Kaito's shoulder, dragging him into a side hug before guiding him towards the table where the other two had already unpacked their food.

"Itadakimasu!" The four chorused before starting their meal.

"So, we found no one with shinobi training, at least not that I could tell, but we did see a rather suspicious guy working at a bar on a street just off the main road." Emiko started the information sharing between bites of her chicken curry.

"This seems like quite the ordinary town on the main streets. The back streets, however, hold casinos and bars aplenty so I don't think shady dealing are out of the ordinary on that side of town."

"We'll have to split up then. I found some pretty ordinary people working for the group that could fade in the day crowd, but as it is a mercenary group they have their fair share of _interesting_ characters." Shizuka nodded as she placed a notebook and pens on the table.

"Have you figured out what the deal is about?" Shun questioned, his eyes darting to Shizuka and back to his food.

"I'm still between it being to sell information or to get a job, and only further investigation will get lead to a more concrete answer."

"We didn't find any info on drug dealers, mafia or anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was something." Kaito supplied, "Might be worth the time to have a look on those groups. What about your little map, anything useful?"

"We don't know much about the higher ranked people, but we identified a former Kiri academy student, Watanabi Minoru, a dropout with average skills from his academy reports. And a man named Sato Taiga, originally from rural Grass country, he was recruited by whoever leads the group."

"What's so special about him?" Emiko stood as she finished her food and moved over to the map, the other three partially turning to watch as the older girl moved around the map.

"For what he lacks in brawn he makes up in brain. No shinobi training as he was reportedly a sick child, however, the guy is rather smart, a lot of free time so he read _a lot_." Shizuka stood with her plate of dumplings and pointed to their profiles, "Watanabi was last seen in Wind a little over a week ago, and if Sato is as important as we are led to believe makes sense to send one of their only shinobi trained mercenaries with him."

"So, you think they are who's coming here?" Kaito trailed off slightly as his teammate chewed thoughtfully on her food before she shook her head.

"Would you send a high-ranking officer to make a deal?"

"They would send a lackey, not a common foot soldier, but a negotiator." Shun concluded, earning himself a nod from Shizuka. "So why tell us about these two guys."

"Because they are likely in the area and being high ranked they likely move around to other dealings." Shizuka's expectant look got a few raised eyebrows from her team.

"If we have to capture anyone, those two are our best bets for information. The negotiator is also good, but if he is here to sell information he'll have some training but probably won't know the finer details of what he has, that is if he even brings the information straight off."

"Right, why bring valuable information from a secure location unless you are sure it will sell." Emiko nodded just as Shun and Kaito joined her in analysing the map. "What about if he is selling work?"

"Considering who is probably involved in the dealing, it would also mean some level of training, but then it could be a group so only one would show up. They could also get a job and take it somewhere to dispatch a team."

"So, they will likely return to their hideout before the deal is concluded no matter what it is about." Kaito hummed as he followed a string to another profile.

"So, what's the plan?" Emiko turned to Shizuka who placed her empty box of dumplings on the table and picked up the notebook with her notes, gesturing for the three of them to join her at the table again.


	19. Planning

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 19 - Planning**

The first part of their mission, identifying buyer and seller, was smooth sailing. They took the first two days to study the larger groups of criminal activity. Drug lords, shady politicians and other criminals were identified and tagged for further intel gathering.

Once those were identified, they would trap someone in the know and have Emiko get their memories and their information. Then they went undercover with that information to get more complete information and to be able to hear the rumours going around on their side.

In the end, Shizuka was right and a politician, who upon further investigation wasn't native to the Fire Country, had been interested in buying information on Konoha forces for reasons still beyond them. After arresting the man and getting the time and place for the deal, Emiko knocked the man out. Kaito was sent disguised as the man to the meeting and after some negotiation, the mercenary set up a new meeting for the exchange to happen.

So Kaito shook hands and took the moment to plant one of Shun's bugs and the quartet was now following the Aburame as he led them towards what was hopefully a proper hideout filled with information for them to collect.

As they moved silently through the trees, at a rather slow pace considering the mercenary wasn't a shinobi, Shizuka started mentally drawing out possibilities of what could happen from now on.

If the hideout was small, they could probably take it on their own with a proper plan. While their mission didn't clearly state an attack, these people were not shinobi trained and for a small base they could take it down.

For a medium-sized base, they would have to infiltrate quietly, maybe take down one person and go in disguise. Again, not much of a problem considering they were up against civilian trained people. Even if they could probably handle them, depending on how many people are there Shizuka wished to avoid a direct attack.

Although Shizuka doubted they were heading to a large-sized base, she thought over their options carefully. A large base means a significant amount of information stored there, and with only four people they might not have the time to get everything before they left, even if they did it stealthily. If they got caught they would very likely be heavily outnumbered and unless she called for backup before they attacked it wouldn't look good.

So, Shizuka hoped for a maximum a medium sized base, without the Kiri dropout and with any luck, they would have no confrontations.

It took half a day to get to the hideout and as soon as the mercenary disappeared through the entrance the team converged on a tree just out of earshot.

Pointing at Shun and Kaito and then drawing a circle in the air, Shizuka had them do a perimeter check, counting guards and judging an approximate size for the facility. She then signed for Emiko to find a secluded space for them to camp and plan. As soon as the group dispersed Shizuka focused on the base and started counting the number of people.

Kaito was the first to return, Shun and Emiko joined them a few minutes later. Leaving bugs in their place they followed the blond girl to the small cave she found between some rocks.

"The base isn't small, but I don't think it's a large base. Only counted six guards doing their perimeter." Kaito drew on a piece of paper the approximate dimensions of the base and the perimeter and positioning of the guards.

"I tagged each, none were shinobi and shouldn't pose much of a threat."

"I counted about forty-five inside the base, so it is a medium sized one." Shizuka sighed as she scribbled the number on the corner of the page so that they wouldn't forget. "The Kiri guy is also here, at least I assume it's him since I got a distinguished shinobi feeling from a single person inside."

"Stealth is still our best option. We are a fair distance from Konoha and the exchange is supposed to happen in five days. That gives us four days to actually go in and out." Emiko stated, her eye dancing across the pages. "Any ideas on how to proceed?"

"I figured watching and figuring out patterns in guard rotation and movement. Shun can your bugs get us a layout inside?"

"A rough idea yes, but for more details ambushing a guard and getting the layout straight from them would be better."

"Emiko, how good is your mind manipulation?"

"I can alter small things, tricking the mind on time passing is the easiest, not so good with altering memories."

"That's fine. For now, let's set up rotations for watches and I'll get to thinking on a detailed plan."

* * *

Shizuka and Shun moved quietly through the corridors towards the chief's office.

Their plan had run perfectly until that point. Ambush four guards and take over their identities, get a layout from them and get back inside when it was time to swap rotations. Shun and Shizuka would get the information, while Kaito and Emiko ran interference, by using genjutsu, or knocking the people out. If they needed to communicate they had radios as well a sensor in each group, so they could just signal each other too.

The chief of the hideout was easily knocked out and hidden under the desk, while the two chūnin collected the scrolls and folders around and sealed them into one of their own scrolls. Once the office was cleared they moved on to another room and repeated the process of looking for important folders.

Meanwhile, Emiko and Kaito knocked people out and put them in their bunks, as it was rather late at night. Once they were satisfied they moved to the individual bedrooms, where the most 'important' people would probably be located.

By the time they got there, Shun and Shizuka had cleared the offices and moved in their direction, appearing at the other end of the hallway as Kaito and Emiko. They cleared the rooms and eventually came to the last door.

"Kiri guy" Shizuka mouthed while they crowded around the closed door. "Brainy sick man too. He probably has the important info with him."

Kaito sent her a look and reached for the doorknob, giving Shizuka a nod for her to move in first.

Pooling her shadows she moved into the room silently, a true shadow. But unlucky for her, the Kiri guy, Watanabi Minoru, was expecting them and immediately launched a barrage of kunai which she blocked by pulling the shadows to cover her.

"Damn it! They are running, Shun now!" Shizuka cursed as the door was opened wider. "We need to clear the compound, Kaito some fire would be nice."

Shun and Shizuka dashed forward after the retreating duo, while Kaito started a fire before running after them.

The Kiri guy was surprisingly fast, for someone who never graduated, but she figured A) Bloody-Kiri standards were a bit different and B) Nothing was stopping the man from training more after he left his village over a decade ago.

"One tracker on each of them. Do you think they are heading to another compound?"

"Probably going to try to throw us off first. The guy is fast, put a fair distance between us." Shizuka sighed as she pushed her senses further, clearing the area ahead to ensure they wouldn't fall into a trap.

The chase continued for a fair hour, with the Konoha team gaining a bit of ground and then the targets gaining speed and making the distance back again. It was only at the end of the hour that Shizuka picked up strong shinobi signatures up ahead.

"Shit! High ranking ninja up ahead. We need to catch them NOW." Shizuka turned to Kaito at the back who narrowed his eyes at her. "I can slow them down a bit, but you need to catch up quickly. Emiko your orders until you catch up."

"Go ahead. Shun keep track of the distance." Emiko nodded and took Shizuka's position in the formation while Shizuka sprinted full speed up ahead.

Concealing her chakra the best she could, Shizuka ran at her full speed ahead, quickly making up ground until she could see the targets just ahead of her.

Watanabi glanced over his shoulder and spotted her and the projectiles she had launched easily dodging them, but he didn't expect the gust of wind that caught him mid jump, blowing him into a tree. He fell to the ground losing grip on his charge and rolled back onto his feet to confront the Konoha kunoichi.

"Quick little thing, aren't you?" He pulled out a katana and she unleashed her tantō. "Saito-san, continue on, I'll join you shortly."

"Oh, he's out. Will be for a while." Shizuka smirked, her eyes landing on the senbon in the lower back of the unconscious man, the academy dropout looked between his fallen charge and her, almost as if contemplating something.

' _I think I understand while Itachi practices that so much.'_ Shizuka smirked as she locked blades with the man from Kiri, grunting as the man pressed his katana down harder. _'The others need to hurry, this guy is strong.'_

Her luck was that they were in the middle of a forest and although this guy was good at taking water out of the air, she should be in the clear of water jutsus as she suspected his affinity to be. For now, they traded blows with the blade, and although she was faster, the guy was a kenjutsu master and had landed a few cuts on her upper arms and shins that stung quite a bit.

But as predicted her team did make it in time, Kaito launching between the man and Shizuka just in time to block a heavy blow to her midriff. The man's surprise bought her enough time to weave through handsigns for a shadow capture, but the man launched backwards as he noticed her shadows launch towards him.

Shizuka glanced around to spot her teammates. Shun was standing over the unconscious target, Emiko was perched on a branch behind them, her senses pushed and a concentrated look on her face.

"Four high levelled shinobi entered my range, we need to move." Emiko said as she looked down at her three teammates on the ground.

Shizuka tilted her head at Kaito before she jumped into the shadow of the tree next to Shun.

"We don't have time to capture, take him down in any way you can." She whispered to Shun before she launched her shadows into the trees and around the man.

Kaito launched an attack and Shun sent waves of bugs to push the man back. In the end, Kaito's blade found its mark through Watanabi's side just as Shizuka's shadows trapped the man's body in place.

"We need to move, no time to deal with the body." Emiko's voice sounded from above.

That got the three younger chūnin to move quickly. Shun sent bugs to decompose the body while also collecting the prisoner and jumping into the trees.

"They will not leave any evidence of a fight. They will return to me later." He explained as he fell into the middle of their formation, with Emiko in the lead and Shizuka and Kaito at the back.

"Kaito, genjutsu, I'll try to send a false trail. Shun could you use a jamming technique?" Shizuka pushed her senses as Shun released another wave of bugs.

The genjutsu wasn't going to do much against Jōnin, but its objective was to slow them down even by a little bit, while the jamming was another layer to their confusion, while Shizuka used her shadows to cast a signature in another direction away from them.

For a few hours, they travelled silently at a fast pace to put as much distance as they could. They took turns carrying the prisoner and after carrying the man once each they took their first break.

"The shinobi are at the edge of my range, so four miles out. But they are heading away from us for now." Shizuka sighed as she leaned against the tree and pulled Akimichi ration bars for Shun and Kaito while raising an eyebrow at the Yamanaka, "Eat up and rest, we'll move again in a couple of hours."

"Wonder where you get your supply?" Emiko snorted as she pulled the same Akimichi bar from her own pack.

* * *

Seeing the gates of Konoha brought a rather warm feeling to Shizuka's chest. This had been her first serious mission as the team leader and she was rather pleased with how it turned out. Even if it hadn't been anything higher than a C-rank it was a good test for her leadership position and a good way to start.

Walking through the gates they checked in with Kotetsu and Izumo who happily greeted the successful team and sent a messenger ahead of them to request someone to collect their prisoner.

"Would you look at Tiny, bringing a gift for T&I from her first big mission. They grow up so fast!" Izumo sighed dramatically before Kotetsu waved the group through.

"Welcome back, you four. See you around!"

The quartet walked towards the Hokage building where they quickly spotted two guys from T&I, obviously awaiting their newest subject. Handing the man off, they made their way to debrief.

That's one thing Shizuka didn't enjoy about infiltration. Because of the information, they gathered they usually debriefed it both verbally and through reports. The Hokage was usually spared from verbal reports unless it was very sensitive information, if the mission was ranked high enough or if something major happened, like a rank change, death or capture.

In this case, the information was somewhat sensitive considering it was concerning the Konoha forces but once they walked into the debrief they found only Inoichi and some other Intelligence worker.

"Inoichi-san." Shizuka greeted with a small bow. She couldn't help but feel odd about greeting Inoichi so formally considering the man had babysat her when she was a child.

"Shizuka-chan! I heard you got some information from your mission."

"Hai." Shizuka smiled and pulled a scroll from her pouch where she had sealed the information they got from the secret base. "I assume you are aware of the basic parameters of the mission?"

"Hai, but if you could walk through this from the beginning." Inoichi accepted the scroll and after glancing through the contents he passed it over to the assistant.

"The original parameters were intercepting in a deal between a mercenary group and an unknown buyer. Follow the seller back to the hideout and retrieve information." Shizuka listed off, giving Emiko a look for her to continue.

"Locating the buyer was simple, a politician who had settled in town little over a decade ago, but not originally from here in the Fire Country. Shun, planted a bug during the negotiation and we followed the mercenary to his base."

"Once there we observed rotation and took note of numbers. We also got the layout from one of the guards and planned to go in." Shizuka continued, "We snuck in and started retrieving the files, while Kaito and Emiko knocked the rest of them out to keep them away from us. We found two people that would be of use to us and tagged them both as they made an escape, we started a fire to ensure no one would figure out the hideout had been ransacked. Four Jōnin level shinobi were in their paths, so we pushed the capture, and in the ambush, the Kiri man got killed. We returned without any trouble."

"Very well. Any idea on what type of information they had, or how?"

"We know it's about Konoha forces, but we don't know how recent or specifics. I do however assume this group has informants spread across all nations. The folder given to us had some decent amount of information. They use mainly civilian trained, but these generally attract less attention than shinobi trained so I can see their reasoning."

"Cheaper too. We did get a couple other locations from some maps and from the minds of the guards. We have added a map of our own at the end with what we found. Shizuka also has the layout of her mind map, for further use in this case." Kaito added as he rolled his shoulders.

"Well done, it seems it was a smooth sailing mission. Reports due tomorrow at the desk, just pop them in the tray and sign them in. You are dismissed. Shizuka if I may have a word."

"Hai." The team bowed and left the room, the assistant worker also disappeared through the door with the scroll containing the collected information.

"The Hokage offered for you to start the rotation early, considering it's just a week and a bit earlier. Kouta has taken Masaru and Kenji on a mission and is only returning in two weeks."

"Sounds good. Shall we meet tomorrow there?"

"Perfect. I will also add that depending on the information from this mission, a new task force might open up for this, in which case you will work there every now and then since you already started it. Otherwise, I have just the task force for you to go into." Inoichi smiled as he passed her the rotation contract, which she quickly signed.

"Can't wait. Did you organize that thing I requested?"

"I have indeed. Got some odd looks from the people around the office, but I suppose their reactions will be good enough payment."

"Thank you, Inoichi-Oji. See you tomorrow!" Shizuka smiled and waved goodbye as she left the room, nodding towards the next team going into the debrief.

Shizuka left the administration building and basked in the sun for a few moments before walking towards the Nara compound.

As a child, Shizuka didn't enjoy walking through the city too much, at least the first few times her mother had taken her to the main street. Those were the first indications that she had been a sensor. She got fussy when surrounded by lots of strong signatures, thus she always had very short appearances during the Yamanaka-Nara-Akimichi barbeques. But each time they happened, and each time she went to the main street the longer she managed to stay.

Nowadays, she had built a tolerance to main streets, and the fact that these people were always around definitely helped. She wasn't able to immediately tell everyone apart, but she could easily find the people she was used to interacting with. Such was the case with her mother.

Even while not actively searching for her mother, the familiar feel of her chakra stood out amongst the crowded street market.

"Ka-san!" Shizuka walked towards her mother and took the basket from her mother's hand. "Want some help?"

"Shizuka, you're back! How was the mission?" Yoshino smiled at her daughter and turned back towards the fruit stand, now both hands-free to select the fruit.

"All good! Debriefed with Inoichi-Oji. Oh! And I'm starting the Intel rotation tomorrow, so probably will be in the village for the next month."

"How wonderful! I'm having tea with Akira and Miku the day after tomorrow, why don't you join us? Akira said you promised you would when you got back."

"Sounds like a plan. I won't be able to stay for too long because of my shift at Intel, but I can definitely spend my break with you."

The mother-daughter duo made small talk about what to cook for dinner as well as any other thing that came to mind while they continued the shopping and all the way back to their house.

"Why don't you go take a shower while I put these away and start dinner."

"I'll help once I'm ready." Giving her mother a kiss on the cheek she moved towards her room to drop her pack and separated the used clothes to drop in the laundry basket.

Shizuka took her time getting clean from the grime of travelling and by the time she got out her mother was nearly done with chopping the vegetables.

"Need any help?"

"Everything is handled. Why don't you surprise Shika at the academy? You'll get there just in time for the end of class if you leave now."

"Alright, it'll be nice seeing Ino and Chōji again." Shizuka sighed as she walked to the entrance and pulled on a pair of boots over her leggings and pulled her grey jacket over her head.

She walked towards the academy and smiled as she heard the bell ring as the students slowly came trickling out of the doors meeting up with whoever was there picking them up. Reaching out her senses she easily identified Ino and Chōji walking with her brother.

"Good evening, little trio! How was your day?" Shizuka smiled brightly as she approached them, pulling Ino and Chōji into side hugs. "Your parents picking you up?"

"Actually I was going to pick up all three, but I see Shika won't join us anymore." A deep voice sounded from behind her. "I see you're back from your mission."

"Chōza-Oji!" She released both kids to be pulled into her godfather's hug. "In any case, we'll walk together most of the way."

"Nara-san!" Shizuka turned to see Sasuke approaching with his hands deep into his pockets and a scowl in place. "Itachi-Nii-san asked me to tell you that he would be away for some time on a mission and that he will let you know when he is back."

"Thank you, Sasuke-Kun." Shizuka gave a glance around and spotted Sasuke's mother, Mikoto, nearby waiting for Sasuke to return. "Have a good evening."

"Hn."

Shizuka smirked as Sasuke returned to his mother. _'How adorable.'_ Turning back to her little group she shrugged at their raised eyebrows.

"Itachi is a good sparring partner."

"How was your first official mission as captain?" Chōji asks as they started making their way home.

"Surprisingly alright. Maybe my luck is finally turning."

The academy rookies started telling her all about their classes, with Ino going on a mild rant about Shika's laziness. Chōza pitched in with memories of his own academy days with their parents and Shizuka laughed along but just listened to her extended family talking.

* * *

"So, looking forward to your Intel rotation?" Her father and she were leaning over the Shogi board for their second game.

"Yes. While desk jobs would usually bore me to death, Inoichi promised me to get me started on a task force to make some connections and that sort of thing."

"So, data processing and case building. You'll be seeing quite a few Naras there." Shikaku hid a smirk as his daughter's hand hovered around the board thinking of a move. "Anything else going on this month?"

"Kouta-sensei said he got someone to train me with lightning ninjutsu. No idea who, but he did give me a time and date to meet whoever it is. Any clues?" Shizuka sighed as she finally made her move.

"I have a few ideas. But you'll find out soon enough." Shikaku snook his head as moved his piece, "What about after?

"Aoba-san invited me to train with the sensory squad, to test my limit and maybe help out with my headaches." Shizuka huffed as she observed the board ahead of her. "Besides that, the usual training schedule with you and team four. Itachi is on a mission, so no idea when that will start again."

"You'll be rather busy, not a lot of free time."

"Which is why Anko has agreed to meet me once a week during lunch to study poisons." Shizuka smirked as her father shook his head at the mischievous twinkle in her eye.


	20. New Beginnings

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **I've decided to start looking for a beta. Mainly to bounce ideas off of, but also to maybe help with the flow, wording and for an extra set of eyes to spot any mistakes. If you are interested let me know :)**

 **Updates will continue regularly, but I will be updating older chapters when I do get in contact with someone. This means that there might be a delay with new updates for a couple weeks until the first few chapters are sorted.**

 **Also, I tend to respond to reviews via PMs, though I could do it at the end of each chapter, so let me know what you prefer. To the guest who suggested Genzuka as a ship name: it's a good option, I haven't really thought of an official one, so if anyone has suggestions :) There is still a while until it happens, but you'll start to see some canon events happening soon.**

 **Thanks! And Enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 20 – New Beginnings**

Shizuka sighed as she continued to wait for whoever was going to train her on lightning ninjutsu.

It had been almost three months since her promotion and she was halfway through her rotation at intelligence. She had just finished tying up some loose strings on her first case and a squad had been deployed to investigate a base for a group of smugglers. She had a couple days off while they waited for the squad to return and so Kouta-sensei had finally come through with setting her up with the mysterious trainer.

As half of the second hour ended Shizuka finally felt a signature brush against her natural 'radius of sensitivity' as she called it. She turned to the direction they were coming from and launched a kunai at a tree.

"You spotted me much faster this time." Kakashi moved from behind the tree grabbing the kunai and throwing it at her feet. "I heard you wanted to learn lightning release."

"Kakashi-san! Yeah, Kaito is now learning a few water jutsu from his father, his second element, so I decided to start one as well. I managed to zap the boys the other day with a jutsu I read about." She smiled at the jōnin. "You have a lightning affinity, don't you?"

Kakashi just stared at her smiling at him for a moment before sighing and nodding moving to stand in front of her.

"Alright, give me a reason for me to teach you. I've heard you are a magnet for trouble."

"Not my fault." She mumbled, crossing her arms across her chest, "And for the reason, if you don't help I'll just find a way to learn myself and that will probably cause some damage…"

"True enough." Kakashi shrugged before he focused more intently on her, "First step: speed training."

"Seriously?" She uncrossed her arms and slumped.

"If you want my help, we are doing it my way. And my way starts with speed training." Kakashi points to the two boulders she meets her team meets at and pulls out a stopwatch.

"I will time you. Ready? Set... Go!"

Shizuka groaned once before sprinting off, leaving Kakashi to sit on the boulder with his favourite little orange book.

* * *

Shizuka went straight for the shower once she got home and spent some minutes enjoying the warm spray of water on her sore muscles before actually getting cleaned.

Once she was ready in her usual grey long sleeve shirt with the Nara symbol on the sleeve and her black shorts she collapsed onto her bed, letting out a content sigh as she closed her eyes, only to snap them open when her father knocked on her door.

"Rough morning?"

"Kakashi-sensei is mean," Shizuka grumbled as she turned to look at her father as he leaned on the doorframe. "Aren't you late for work?"

"Had a late night so decided to go in later today." He shrugged before tossing her a small scroll. "You've been summoned to Intel. Inoichi wants you in for a case."

"The squad can't have returned yet." Shizuka sat upright against the headboard to read the small note from Inoichi, "Nope, it's totally unrelated."

"Get used to it. Unless you get pulled on a major task force you might end up consulting on a couple smaller ones at the same time."

"How fun. Wait for me? We can walk out together." Shizuka looked up to see her father nod before he closed the door.

Moving to her dresser she pulled out her chūnin vest and her dark grey skirt that had a zip up each thigh to allow more movement. Pulling on the skirt over the shorts and her vest over her usual shirt she left her bedroom, grabbing her headband from her desk on the way out.

As she pulled her hair into a ponytail instead of the usual braid and tied her headband as usual. As she entered the hall she smiled as her father nudged her boots over to her as he pulled his own sandals on.

"Has Shika received his first report yet?"

"He's amongst the lower quarter of the class." Shikaku grinned down at his daughter as she shook her head.

"Mother won't be pleased."

"She probably expected it. It's almost tradition. I was much the same, so was Daichi. You're one of the very few Nara that wasn't."

"Did you give him a ratio to stick to? You know: get this percentage on every test and so on. You did offer that to me when I joined."

"I just told him to pass, so he'll be on that borderline."

The father-daughter duo made small talk until they arrived at the Intelligence building which was just a block away from the administration building where her father worked.

"See you at dinner, To-san." She called over her shoulder as she walked into the reception hall and smiled at the chūnin at the desk who waved her in.

She quickly made her way through the hallways until she found Inoichi's office, knocking softly on the door and going inside once he called her in.

"Inoichi-Oji, you summoned me?"

"Hai, Shizuka-chan, while you wait for the squad to return with information on the other case, I thought you'd like to be brought into the task force for the case you were involved in during your last mission."

"Ah, the mercenaries." Shizuka nodded as she picked up the file the blonde offered her and sat down on the chair across from his desk. "Ibiki-san finished with the prisoner?"

"He finished a while ago and we sent a team out for further investigation. They returned late last night." Inoichi stood and gestured for her to follow him out of his office. "Some scrolls were coded, and the cypher division is working on those and once they've finished they will drop them off for you."

The pair walked down the hallway and entered a small room that had previously been a storage room and now was Shizuka's 'office', although Inoichi just called it the mind map room.

The room had a tiny desk pushed into the corner so that Shizuka could create one of her mind maps. Since Shizuka was currently only involved in one case only one of the walls was covered in papers, but the wall adjacent to that and opposite the door had a map of the countries as they knew. The map had pins of different colours marking specific points and strings leading to whatever information was relevant.

"Those boxes by the desk are the info on that case, the diagram of your initial map for that is in there too so that you can put it together faster. Ibiki's report and notes are there too. We will stop by later to check in." Inoichi gestured to the three boxes stacked next to her desk. "Have fun!"

With a wave and a smirk, he left the 'office' and left Shizuka to do her thing.

* * *

Shizuka was exhausted by the time she left the office. Despite the head start she had she hadn't been involved in that case for a couple weeks while the investigation had continued beyond her involvement.

So, she had been left to catch up by reading all the documents and slotting them into her mind map that had already been large. She had had to move several chunks of the map to different positions so that she would have space to add everything and also for it to be easier to follow in general.

She was so lost in thought that she failed to notice the small form running towards her from her left side.

With a grunt, she managed to regain her balance and grabbed a hold of the back of the kid's shirt to keep him from falling over.

Looking down at who she caught she just blinked slowly. _'So bright.'_ Bright sunshine coloured hair and sky-blue eyes narrowed on her while tugging away from her hold.

As soon as the boy took a step back from her she heard the approaching footsteps and angry muttering of a group of civilians. Glancing down at the boy who she now noticed was covered in paint she raised her eyebrows when the boy's features twisted into one of panic.

With a subtle nod towards the dark alley between two buildings and raising a finger to her lips in a sign to keep him quiet. With quick handsigns, she raised an E-rank genjutsu and warped the shadows to help the boy melt into the shadows.

Turning to the incoming group she turned around with raised eyebrows, "Is there something wrong?"

"Shinobi-san! The brat tagged all our buildings! It's bad for business!" The man at the front was the first to stop in front of her, looking around for traces of the kid, not even sparing the alley a second look.

"Have you seen him?" A woman asked immediately after, her eyes also scanning the street hoping to catch sight of the troublemaker.

"While I have no idea who you are talking about, I have not seen anyone running this way."

"Damn that brat. Someone needs to do something about him. He's a troublemaker that one!" Some other civilian muttered, but Shizuka just hummed in response.

"In any case, just put in a request for a D-rank to have the buildings painted, as it's the fastest way to fix the problem." Shizuka gave them a tight smile and waved them away as they left muttering about the 'brat' and 'monster'.

Once they were gone she turned to the alley and released the genjutsu.

"Why did you help me?" Sunshine crossed his arms and watched her with narrowed eyes.

Shizuka tilted her head and her heart went out to the child that at such a young age he was suspicious of anyone helping him.

"I'm a shinobi, I'm here to help and protect." She tapped her hitai-ate that marked her as a shinobi of Konoha.

"But you also have to protect them."

"They were chasing you. One child against four adults is hardly fair." Shizuka smiled as the boy relaxed a bit before she grinned up at her. _'A little ball of sunshine, isn't he?'_ Shizuka's lips twitched at her comparison.

"What was that thing you just did? Can I learn how to do it too?"

"Ah, that's my clan's technique, so no, but you will learn how to hide like I was able to hide you even without the shadows."

"That's so cool!" The boy didn't seem too disappointed by the first part of her answer, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! What's your name nee-chan?"

"Nara Shizuka."

"Ehh, Nara? You're related to Shikamaru?"

"Hai, he's my little brother."

"He's so lazy! He always sleeps in class!"

Shizuka chuckled at his annoyed expression and shrugged, "He just lacks the motivation."

"But we're training to be ninja! It's all so cool!" Naruto pouted, "I know! I'll help motivate him so that he can become a cool ninja like his nee-chan!"

Shizuka grinned at the idea of hyperactive Naruto trying to motivate Shikamaru.

"But it must stay a secret between us." Shizuka grinned and offered Naruto her pinky, "Promise you won't tell Shikamaru I agreed to this."

"I won't! I promise, nee-chan!" Naruto linked his pinky with hers and grinned before his stomach rumbled, a flush taking over his face, "I need to go! Bye, nee-chan!"

"It was nice meeting you, Naruto-Kun." Shizuka chuckled as the boy resumed running home.

On her way home, she thought about Naruto and his situation. She had been five when the Kyūbi had attacked. To be honest, she didn't remember much of that night specifically, but rather the following days and the talk on the streets before the Sandaime forbade it from being spoken of at all.

The night the Nine-tails attacked was rather blurred in her memories. She remembered feeling overwhelmed by the malevolent chakra that permeated the air. She remembered being carried to a bunker and huddling around her younger brother and trying to stay awake despite a pounding headache.

Before she knew it, she found herself removing her boots at the entrance hall of her house, her mother's cooking smelling faintly of vegetable broth and spices.

"Need any help, Ka-san?"

"Ah! Why don't you set the table for me? Your brother should be done with the shower by then."

Shizuka shuffled around the kitchen to get the things for the table, a soft smile as her mother hummed the lively tune of some songs she couldn't remember the words to.

Her brother helped - after receiving a glare from their mother - with the cutlery as she moved to her room to get clothes for a shower.

She walked back into the dining room as her father was helping their mother bring the food to the table.

They ate while exchanging notes about their days. Yoshino had had tea with Ino's and Chōji's mothers and they had asked when Shizuka would be able to have tea with them. Shikaku had a 'troublesome' day at the office, and Shikamaru echoed his father's sentiment about the academy earning themselves a stern look from the Yoshino and an amused one from the younger girl.

Shizuka told them about her run-in with a little blond troublemaker and Shikamaru frowned as she finished.

"Why do people avoid Naruto like he's the plague?"

Shizuka leaned back her eyes landing on her father who shared a look with Yoshino while Shikamaru was trailing his fingers on the rim of his cup.

"Shikamaru… What do you think of Naruto?"

"He's an idiot. But he's also funny. I don't understand why people treat him the way they do."

"Then act as you believe you should."

Shikamaru looked pensive before glancing over at his older sister who just smiled which solidified his resolve.

"Making friends is troublesome, but since he'll be my comrade one day I might as well start the effort now."

Shikaku hid a smile behind his cup of tea, while the two women shared an amused smile.


	21. On the Run

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Sorry for the delay in posting this new chapter, but as I mentioned in the last chapter I was busy getting a beta! So thank you, Kaname84 for your help! Honestly would've taken me forever to get it done on my own (and it would never be as good as it became with her help). We have edited up to Chapter 6 by now, so this one isn't edited, but I just wanted to post something to update you all on the status as well as continuing with the story.**

 **Since I've received this question a couple of times, I'll clear up the ages of the characters. In canon (at the start of Naruto) Genma was 29-30, but I've made him younger by about 4 years, making him 25-26 when that part of the storyline starts.**

 **This means, at the time of Shizuka's promotion to Chūnin:**

 **Genma, Kakashi etc - 19-20**

 **Kaito, Masaru, Hana etc - 14**

 **Itachi - 13**

 **Shizuka - 12**

 **Naruto, Sasuke etc - 7**

 **Hope that clears it up!**

 **Thanks! And Enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 21 - On the Run**

As much as Shizuka enjoyed working for the Intel division, going out on missions with a team gave her a whole different kind of satisfaction. Team four missions especially, where they had connections to make, information to collect and the occasional fight. Although those were not usually expected, it had happened before and she was sure it would happen again.

It was supposed to be a simple C-Rank mission but things simply weren't going their way.

The mission was to the Southwest to the border with the Land of Rivers and find out who was dealing drugs in that area. It wasn't anything they hadn't done before and there had been no indications that this would turn out to be any harder than the given C-Rank.

So when they got there and sensed high ranking shinobi just beyond the border they assumed it was their border patrol.

They proceed as if it were any other mission and they settle into the hotel, Shizuka sets up her map while her team goes out to the town to explore for a bit. By the time they get back, Shizuka is annoyed that she couldn't find anything in the files they were given that was directly related to drugs but does point out some odd events that had happened in the area.

They continued investigating for a few days. They found evidence of other criminal groups passing through the town, whispers of missing-nin and some corrupt politicians, but nothing on the drug cartel they were looking for.

"What if we search nearby areas? If there has been so much activity from them here than they probably have a base in the area." Shizuka suggested on the sixth night at the hotel.

"Honestly, Sensei, we've entered every shop, walked every street we'll need to spread out a bit." Kaito agreed from where he was lying down, his eyes following their Jōnin-sensei who was reading over notes on the mind map.

"Alright, Shizuka see if you can get anything now." Kouta sighed and sat down by the table, while his student closed her eyes to focus.

A few minutes passed and Shizuka could feel the sweat gathering on her forehead as she stretched her senses to the limit as she tried to catch the presence of anything in the area surrounding the town.

"Those border people are still there and there is a cluster of people outside town." Shizuka snapped her eyes opened and jumped to her feet. Moving to the map at the centre of her map, she drew Xs on the locations. "Just three miles Southwest of here, and the border, well there is a rather large number of highly ranked shinobi there."

"Odd. We'll have to steer clear from them. We'll investigate the location tomorrow." Kouta sighed as he stood and stretched out. "We should call it a night. We'll work out logistics for this in the morning."

"Sensei, what would happen if we exhaust all our options here?" Masaru questioned as he too stood up to return to his room.

"Mission is declared incomplete, they will have a look at it at Intel and will either be passed back to us or given to a new set of eyes. It's not a fail if we have something to show for it but not successful unless all mission objectives are completed."

"Well let's hope we actually get proper information tomorrow. An incomplete mission isn't good enough." Masaru yawned halfway through his second sentence which took away from his determined tone.

"Goodnight then. See you all tomorrow." Shizuka waved as the three male left her room. _'Not sleepy yet, so I might as well read over all this again.'_

With a sigh, she made her way to the centre of the mind-map with a notebook and pen in hand.

* * *

The next morning team four made their way towards the cluster of people. With some quick signals passed between them, they confirmed the base was manned by civilians and thus posed no threat.

"Masaru, put up a genjutsu to make them sleep. Kaito we will be looking for information. Shizuka, keep an eye out. Radio channel 4." Kouta distributed the radios and waited for Masaru to give the go ahead.

Shizuka felt the layered genjutsu hit the base, the people started swaying on their feet before collapsing into heaps on the floor. She spread her senses inside to ensure they were all down, and as soon as she confirmed it her teammates immediately jumped down and went inside.

She spread her senses again, this time towards the border where the probably-not-border-patrol shinobi were. They hadn't moved from their area so she continued checking the area around the base.

"Shizuka, we found scrolls of information on the hidden villages." Kouta's voice cracked through the radio.

"It's from the same group as last time, Shizuka." Kaito spoke quickly, "The ones at the border, do you think they are the same as the ones we ran from?"

"I can't really tell if they are the same, and I'd honestly rather not find out." Shizuka answered, "I don't remember reading that the group had a base in this area, but we could have missed something at Intel."

"We did find the drugs though, so we're sealing them away and cleaning the hideout. The civilians still under the genjutsu?" Masaru spoke up. In the background, Shizuka could hear scrolls being moved and sealed.

"Yeah, they are all out. Not many people at the border now, I think some have moved towards town though, which means we need to be discreet when we get there and preferably head back soon."

"Copy. We're nearly done here. Anything else?" Kouta asked between sealing the information away in a storage scroll.

"Let me check the perimeter." Shizuka sighed and spread her senses out again, her mind half focused on the shinobi that had moved into the town while simultaneously checking the other directions.

Ignoring the headache slowly building up behind her temples, she gasped as she felt the unmistakable feeling of another sensor brushing against her own senses. Instinctively pulling her chakra as close to her core as she could her mind shut down from the sheer power that had pushed against her senses.

"Shizuka! Answer me? What happened?" Kouta's voice sounded firm through the radio.

"Sorry, Sensei, there is a sensor approaching. And a very strong one at that." Shizuka stood turned in the general direction she expected them to come from, "Not the border people, it's coming from the East, and I don't think they are alone."

"Think we can avoid them?" Shizuka barely jumped when her Sensei landed on the branch beside her. "Come on, Shizuka, focus."

"They were focused on this direction, hence how our senses collided. Definitely found me, might be able to track me if he got a good sense memory."

"What about the border group?"

"If we go back to town now then we'll get stuck between two groups, heavily outnumbered."

"Then we deal with whoever is coming quickly and head back to Konoha. I'll send a summon to get our things." Already flying through handsigns, Kouta summoned a group of four squirrels. "Arata, I need you to get our things from the hotel, don't forget the mind-map."

"Hai, Kouta-kun." Arata and the other three launched into the air in the direction of town.

"Shizuka, find the targets." Kouta turned to his youngest student who nodded and closed her eyes and breathing deeply.

"Definitely locked onto us. Four of them, ranging from Chūnin to Jōnin." Shizuka opened her eyes and nodded in the direction they were coming from. "They've slowed down, probably realised I wasn't alone."

"Take positions. One for each, Shizuka keep an eye on anyone else approaching."

The team prepared for the confrontation with reasonable calm. Masaru jumped to the ground, Shizuka and Kaito jumped to trees beside the one Kouta stood on. They waited in silence, not necessarily hiding as their enemy had already found them, but making sure they had some form of cover for whatever was to come.

Their enemy attacked first, launching projectiles at Kaito and Shizuka forcing them away from their sensei and right into the paths of two opponents. Shizuka drew a tantō to parry a dark blue haired man's katana.

A quick check of her surroundings gave her a glimpse at her teammates' pairings. Masaru was on the ground fighting a scrawny blond man, while Kaito was being tag teamed by a black-haired woman wielding twin blades and a blond woman.

Shizuka huffed in annoyance as she had to retreat to dodge the incoming weapons while trying to corner the scrawny man with her shadows. Seems like all the practice she had done with her parents at controlling her shadows while dodging projectiles was coming in handy. However, the crackling of sparks made her mentally groan before she glanced up to confirm her suspicions.

"Shit. Masaru, wall now. Make it big." Shizuka jumped back to land by Masaru's side as he flew through handsigns. "Three… two… one…"

The explosion shook the earth, and thankfully her other two teammates took her warning seriously as they also jumped for the cover of Masaru's wall.

Shizuka sighed and gestured to the ground with an expectant look towards Kouta who nodded and flashed through handsigns before unearthing one of their enemies, quickly slitting his throat.

The team didn't have time to rest as the other three launched a new attack, a new urgency to their moves as they were now a man down.

Kaito engaged the woman with the twin blades and Kouta went for the blue-haired man who they assumed was the leader. This left the sensor, the blond woman, to Shizuka and Masaru to deal with.

They took turns in engaging the woman in close range combat, Shizuka with her tantōs and Masaru with normal taijutsu while the other would cover with long-range attacks.

Shizuka was vaguely aware of her other teammates and their battles, but she only checked in periodically so that her focus was centred on her own fight. The sensor was keeping up with her speed but clearly had the advantage of strength over her. As she was continuously pushed back she signalled for Masaru to take over. Locking her left tantō with a kunai she spun around, slashing at the blond's ribs, managing draw blood and an angry curse.

Unfortunately, this left her own side open and with a surprising burst of speed, the sensor landed a strong kick to her ribs sending her flying into a tree.

With the breath knocked out of her, she took a moment to regain her bearings. Luckily for her, Masaru was quick to cover for her and she took a moment to glance around inspecting the clearing.

Kouta had by that point defeated his opponent and was helping Kaito defeat his opponent. Even so, Shizuka caught his glance in her direction as he had probably heard her crash into the tree.

With a nod in his direction, Shizuka stood and weaved through handsigns using the shadow the tree provided to extend her own and send it behind the woman. Masaru noticed the creeping shadow and kept the woman's attention away from it and with the help of a projectile from Shizuka, they trapped the woman and finished the battle by slitting her throat.

Releasing her jutsu, Shizuka slumped against the tree and Masaru took a moment to lean against it as well. Their attention turned towards their teammates just in time to see Kouta pierce the woman's back with his blade while Kaito held off both her blades with his katana and a kunai.

As the woman fell to the ground Kaito moved towards his observing teammates, while Kouta checked the fallen shinobi.

"How are you all doing?" Kouta asked as he approached Masaru and Shizuka once he was done searching the bodies for any information.

"Shizuka has cracked ribs, Masaru and I have some bruises but he's used up a lot more chakra than I have." Kaito listed off as he helped Shizuka up from where she sat.

"Let's head, back. My summons will find us later." Kouta sighed and waited for them to adjust themselves and was about to move out when the youngest team member spoke up.

"Uh, Sensei… That might not be possible. The shinobi that moved from the border to town are heading this way." Shizuka winced both from her ribs and unimpressed looks she received. "Four more heading this way, high ranked probably."

"Can we outrun them?" Masaru glanced between his female teammate and their sensei.

"Not in this condition, but we won't have to. I think there is a rogue nin base in the area. We can guide them there and escape in the confusion."

"Too risky, we might get caught in the crossfire." Kouta shook his head, as he thought over their options.

"Sensei, these shinobi are above our level, we could maybe take them if they were two or three if we got lucky…" Shizuka trailed off, "If we set up a trap to take one or even two of them down we can try to fight the rest."

"Masaru, throw up a genjutsu, Shizuka, track their signatures and prepare for another fight. Kaito you're with me." Kouta launched into the trees while Shizuka and Masaru stood together with their backs to a group of boulders.

Once the genjutsu was up Masaru leaned back against the boulder before turning to observe Shizuka.

"No idea what they did, but they caught one of the enemies by surprise. Get ready, they are nearly here." Shizuka whispered to Masaru before she stepped back into the shadows.

Knowing his teammate was hoping for a surprise attack with her shadows, he straightened up just as his other two teammates burst into sight, with three shinobi appearing right after of them commented on Shizuka's absence, instead they got ready for their new opponents to make a move.

From her position, Shizuka observed each enemy and considered who she would ambush first. Unsurprisingly their sensei was the best off out of the three and so she turned towards the younger two. Kaito seemed to be on top of his game that day and was holding up rather well, and while Masaru didn't seem to struggle too much she could sense his diminishing chakra stores.

Waiting for the moment Masaru's opponent stepped within her range she immediately caught him with the shadow stitching technique. Masaru didn't even stop to wonder and had already moved to tag team Kaito's opponent who seemed to finally realise Shizuka had been hiding.

"In the trees, shadow user. Watch out."

Kouta sighed as his opponent immediately shifted so that he was away from the treeline. Shizuka jumped into the fight, helping Masaru and Kaito with their opponent who was proving to be rather proficient at dodging.

The fight continued for a little while longer until a thought came to Shizuka. With a quick signal to her teammates, they covered for her retreating form while she spread her senses out. With a gasp and a quick burst of chakra, she pushed her shadows around forcing the enemy to back away from the loose tendrils and into the trees.

"They have backup, they are still a few ways off though. I didn't gather specifics."

As soon as she finished conveying her message the remaining two opponents launched a coordinated attack, focused on the Nara, only to be blocked by Kaito and Kouta.

"Where are all these people coming from?" Masaru groaned as he tried to attack Kaito's opponent only to get punched in the gut before he managed to jump back to avoid a kick to the head.

"We aren't exactly being discrete… And they knew they had teammates in this general area." Shizuka sighed as she launched two tendrils at Kouta's opponent only for the man to cut through both tendrils with a wind enhanced blade.

Deciding her shadows weren't any use, she drew both tantōs and with coordinated attacks with Kouta, they managed to visibly slow their opponent's attacks and weaken his defence.

The next few minutes were a blur as they attacked the last two opponents with a new sense of urgency. And for the second time that day, Shizuka left her side open, which her new opponent also took advantage of before Kouta could make a move to cover her exposed side.

With a twist and a grunt of pain, Shizuka dodged the blade to the side but was stabbed in the thigh instead. Slapping her opponent's arm with a lightning jutsu, paralysing his arm she jumped away, landing unsteadily on her feet as Kouta stabbed their opponent in the back with his katana.

Kaito and Masaru's opponent realised immediately he was the last one of his little group and landed a swift blow to Masaru's head, sending the boy tumbling on the ground. He had no time to consider anything else before Kaito landed the killing blow.

"We need to move now." Kouta moved from where he retrieved the pouches they fallen enemy shinobi had towards Masaru, who was conscious but very obviously dazed from the heavy blow. "Kaito carry Shizuka, I've got Masaru."

They launched into the trees and started a fast pace towards Konoha. For several minutes they didn't speak, as they focused solely on putting some distance between them and their pursuers.

After a while, Masaru seemed more alert, but Kouta kept carrying him for the sake of keeping up the speed.

"Shizuka, status on pursuers." Kouta requested, his eyes still trained on the path ahead.

"There are three of them. We've gained some ground, but they are still following." Shizuka momentarily tightened her arms around Kaito's neck as she focused on spreading her senses. "We need something to throw them off, we can't continue on at this pace."

"What about the genjutsu and jamming combo from our mission with Emi and Shun?" Kaito suggested this drew a contemplative and a questioning hum from Shizuka and their sensei respectively.

"We don't have a jamming technique to use instead of Shun's but a strong enough genjutsu and some focus, it might just work… Sensei, what do you think?" Shizuka opened her eyes and glanced sideways at the Jōnin who had dropped back to run alongside Kaito.

"It's our best bet. Masaru, can you manage a strong layered genjutsu?"

"Hai. But you might need to supplement a bit as I'm low on chakra." Masaru lifted his head to glance at Shizuka, "Same as always?"

Shizuka and Masaru started talking through their actions, as Shizuka managed the diversion and Masaru layered the genjutsu with Kouta adding on some layers of his own to strengthen the facade. Once that was complete, they accelerated their pace again and Shizuka took to updating them every so often on their enemies' progress.

"They are slowing down and diverging from our path too." Shizuka slumped into Kaito's shoulder, "We should keep an accelerated pace for a while longer just in case, but we'll be able to slow down soon."

Kouta nodded his agreement and the team proceeded in silence. After another mile running, Shizuka confirmed their positions and the team finally slowed down.

"Shizuka, you'll have first shift so that you can keep a wide perimeter, Kaito and I will take the middle shifts and Masaru will have the last." Kouta gave their orders as soon as they had settled. "Keep an eye out for Arata and the other squirrels, they should catch up with us sometime this night."

With murmured agreements, the team proceeded to munch on the emergency ration bar they kept in their pouches and settled in for the long night ahead.

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **To answer the guest review:**

 **Candice:**

 **Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I also enjoy writing about the team dynamics, and I can promise more glimpses into that.**

 **I hope I managed to clear up the age situation in the AN. While it might be a challenge the change in their relationship will be fun to write and I'm looking forward to that.**

 **He for sure needs more love XD Hope you've enjoyed the chapter!**


	22. New Ideas

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Sorry for the long delay! Uni has been crazy and I've been working on editing and writing new chapters. I already have more being written, so I'll be trying to get a regular schedule running again.**

 **This chapter hasn't gone through the thorough editing of my beta, but she has also been busy, but she will catch up soon. I would also like to welcome AmIValid2 to the beta editing team!**

 **Thanks! And hope you enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 22 - New Ideas**

Team four managed to return to the village without further incidents and after checking into the village gates they were immediately directed to the hospital.

Once Masaru and Shizuka had been admitted into a room, Kouta took Kaito to the administration building for debriefing and sent him home to rest.

For the following two days, Kaito trained alone with Kouta while his other two teammates recovered in the hospital.

"Without the two of you, sensei has way too much free time." Kaito groans as he collapsed into the chair in her hospital room. "Why did both of you have to get injured."

"Because Shizuka attracts trouble." Masaru deadpanned as he sent a mock glare towards their female teammate in her hospital bed.

"How do we know it's me? I seem to recall going on other missions without it going to shit."

"But this one did. We were in the middle of a conflict between two rogue ninja groups and now both of you are stuck in the hospital for a week." Kaito huffed crossing his arms daring her to push the subject.

"Maybe he just needs a girlfriend." Masaru commented wincing as he noticed Shizuka's thoughtful expression, "No, Shizuka, I was joking. We are not getting sensei a girlfriend."

"What do you think of the nurse, Asami-san?" She ignored her teammate's head shake and continue speaking, "She's a medic-nin so she's used to the mission schedule, she's smart and nice and really pretty."

"Shizuka… Please don't." Masaru shook his head quickly his eyes darting to the door as if making sure no one else was hearing this.

"I think it's too late, Masaru," Kaito whispered as they watched their teammate continue contemplating the idea of their sensei and the blond nurse. "To be honest, though, she's had worse ideas."

"Not you too!" Masaru groaned, burying his head in his hands.

* * *

Later that same day, while Masaru had a shower in the attached bathroom, Shizuka took the opportunity to chat with the nurse Asami.

"What's it like being a medic-nin?" Shizuka questioned as the nurse checked her chart.

"Fulfilling, I may not be out in the field but there is plenty of excitement around here. Though on busier days it does get a little stressful, just like any regular mission I suppose."

"Did you go to the academy?"

"Hai, my team didn't pass our Jōnin sensei's team, so we were thrown back into the academy, and I was selected for an apprenticeship here."

"You've probably met most of the active shinobi by now then." Shizuka smiled innocently at the raised eyebrow the blond sent her way.

"I suppose I have met quite a few shinobi, but I wouldn't say most of them. I often end up treating the same people." Asami gave her a pointed look to which Shizuka just shrugged.

"No more flowers, I promise."

The Chūnin let the nurse finish writing on her chart while she thought on her next question.

"And has anyone ever caught your eye?" She whispered as she leaned forward, her eyes wide. And then she flinched back when Asami hit her arm with the clipboard. "Hey! You're not supposed to hit your patients!"

"Stop being dramatic, you could have dodged that. Besides, why would I tell you?" Asami huffed while putting the charts back on the foot of the bed.

For a few moments, they just stare and before either could say anything, a knock sounded at the door. Shizuka's parents walked into the room, sending a smile and nod towards the nurse before stopping by their daughter's bed.

"Well, I'm going to continue my rounds. Nara-chan, you and your friend will be released sometime tomorrow. Have a good day." Asami gave her parents a farewell nod and moved out the door, shutting it gently behind her.

"So what exactly are you planning this time?" Yoshino mused as she put a small food container in front of Shizuka, who grinned when she noticed the Akimichi symbol. "Miku sends her well wishes."

"Tell her she's the best." Shizuka ignored the question and opened the container and breathed deeply enjoying the smell of the dumplings and miso soup.

"Ah, Shikaku-san, Yoshino-san, good afternoon." Masaru greeted as he moved towards his bed.

"Masaru-kun, how are you feeling?" Yoshino smiled and gave the boy a box similar to the one her daughter was eating from.

"Better, but ready to leave this place." Masaru smiled as he sat on his bed and opened the box, "Thank you for the food! Could you thank the Akimichi for me, please?"

"Of course, dear." Yoshino smiled happily and turned to her daughter again, "Shikamaru, Ino and Chōji will stop by after the academy for a few minutes."

"Ah, it's been a while since I've spent time with all three." Shizuka smiled, "Ah, Tō-san, I had this idea…"

She decided to ignore the exasperated sigh from her teammate and smiled innocently at her parents who had their eyes narrowed.

"I haven't done anything-"

"Yet…" Masaru mumbled between bites of his food, which earned him a pillow to the face.

"Not like I would have tried anything on purpose!" Shizuka never broke eye contact with her father, "And I was wondering if you could help me out."

"And what exactly does this idea entail?" He father sat on the chair beside her bed and clasped his hands on his lap.

"Using my shadows to map out an area, so that I don't have to go in blind," Shizuka answered, tilting her head and glancing out the window for a minute before continuing, "I imagine it would be easier than sending physical objects, but I'm wary of the consequences."

"At least you learnt your lesson." Yoshino shook her head who had decided to check out her medical chart.

"You know we'll have to go about this the normal path of developing a jutsu, right?" Shikaku huffed as his daughter slumped.

"Research?"

"And taking notes." The clan head smirked as his daughter slumped back, forgetting she didn't have a pillow and ended up knocking her head on the wall. "You might want to consult Inoichi, he might have some insight into expanding your senses in such a manner."

"He'd be good for the headaches I'll most likely get too." Shizuka smiled sheepishly and her father did let out a laugh at that.

"I'll be sure to let him know that's what you care about." Shikaku shook his head and looked at the clock on the wall, "Your mother and I should be going, we need to buy groceries for dinner."

"Oh! When is uncle getting back? He's been away for a while…" Shizuka leaned to kiss her mother on the cheek before closing her eyes as each of her parents kissed her forehead.

"Last message he sent he was close to finishing the last part of his mission. So I'd say another few weeks." Shikaku answered as he picked straightened up, "I'll see you tomorrow."

With final goodbyes to Masaru and her, Shizuka's parents moved out of the room, the door barely clicking shut before Shizuka's pillow hit the side of her head.

"Oi! Masaru, that was uncalled for!"

"You threw it first!"

The two stare at each other for a while before dissolving into laughter.

"Are you excited? The next Chūnin exams are little over a month away!" Shizuka asked as she put the pillow behind her and made herself comfortable.

"Ah, yes, though I'll miss training with you and Kaito this month. Sensei wants Kenji and I to get into the groove of working together, we'll be meeting our third teammate later this week."

"Ah, it's someone from the year above, right?"

"Hai, a medic actually, after her teammates passed she started training to be a medic. She's decided to try again and we're the only incomplete team." Masaru sighed, "I was going to ask you and Kaito for any advice."

"Meh, the first test should probably have a trick to it, stay alert for survival test and in the battle stage try to plan ahead of your opponents."

"Not as easy as you make it seem…"

"You'll be fine, rely on your teammates, if no one takes initiative delegate tasks. They are looking for leadership skills as well as more practical skills."

"Right." Masaru yawned, "Speaking of taking initiative, are you really planning on playing matchmaker?"

"Might as well, right? It'll be a task for whenever I'm here and besides Kouta-Sensei is fun to mess with."

"Well, I can't say I won't enjoy watching this unfold. So do let me know if you need help."

"Will do."

"I honestly fear for your Sensei's sanity." Shikamaru's voice sounded from the door.

"Baby Ino-Shika-Chō!" Shizuka grinned as she waved the academy students into the room. "How was the academy? No Shika, not you."

"We did history and maths today since the weather wasn't too good for outdoor activities." Ino laughed at Shikamaru's slouching after being overlooked by his sister. "When do we start to do more interesting things?"

"The second year is when more practical things other than running and stretching starts." Masaru supplied as Shizuka shuffled to the side, inviting Ino and Chōji to sit while Shikamaru slumped into the chair.

"Shika will actually have to participate in those, no chance to fall asleep in practical lessons." Shizuka grinned and high fived Ino as Shikamaru groaned and slumped further into his seat.

"Nee-chan, there is this cute boy in our class!" Ino's eyes lit up as she leaned closer to Shizuka, "His name is Uchiha Sasuke! And he's so cool!"

Shizuka blinked slowly and she didn't even spare her brother a glance when he groaned and mumbled his signature phrase.

"Don't you train with an Uchiha? I think I hear Shikaku-Oji say so to Tō-san a while ago."

"Hai, Itachi-Senpai, Sasuke's older brother actually." Ino nearly squealed in delight and started firing off questions in rapid succession.

"I don't have much time to think about boys, Ino… I'm busy enough as it is."

"But nee-chan! Don't you have a crush on anybody? Your teammates?"

This earned a choking sound from Masaru before the two shinobi burst out laughing.

"Oh god! Can you imagine me having a crush on one of you two idiots?"

"I should be insulted, but the notion is ridiculous."

"Nee-chan!" Ino pouted, earning herself a pat on the head.

"No, Ino-chan, no one has caught my eye. I promise to let you know if that changes." Shizuka looked to her brother and Chōji who both had wrinkled their noses as the conversation continued, "Now, other than that what news from the academy?"

"We have a few group projects to do, we will find out our groups soon." Chōji commented, his hands in his lap as he fiddles with his hands.

"I'm sure you'll make many friends, Chōji." Shizuka smiled encouragingly at the young boy, "Group projects are the starting point for teamwork, which will become a vital skill when you are placed in your squads."

"Speaking of, how was the mission that landed you here?" Shikamaru finally spoke up from his seat, his two friends also focused on her, their eyes flicking occasionally to Masaru who had picked up a book from his side table.

"We got caught in a bad position. At least they were waves of enemies which gave us time to regroup." From the years of hearing her father give brief descriptions of his missions without actually revealing anything that would be classified confidential, Shizuka liked to think she had picked up on the skill.

"Troublesome… Can you never have a mission go according to plan?" Shikamaru's response got another snort from Masaru who ignored the glare his teammate sent him.

"Plans change." Shizuka sniffed, and the kids giggled as she pouted and crossed her arms, though they stopped as a knock sounded from the door and Asami poked her head in smiling at the young academy students.

"I'm sorry kids, visiting hours are ending. You'll have your troublemaking sister and her friend back home tomorrow." The nurse pulled the door open and waited patiently as the kids hugged Shizuka goodbye and shuffled out the door.

Shikamaru was the last to leave and turned to the two shinobi when he stopped at the door.

"Lights?"

"Yes please, thank you, otouto. Goodnight!" Shizuka smiled her little brother as she laid down.


	23. Attention

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Just a heads up: there is a longish time jump, but based on what they've been talking about and what they say in this chapter you can get an idea of what they've been doing.**

 **Let me know what you think!**

 **Thanks! And Enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 23 - Attention**

Two and a half of months went by with team four barely seeing each other at all. Kaito had been called on a long two-month mission a couple of weeks after his teammates were released from the hospital. Masaru had gone into intensive training and missions with his temporary team under the supervision of Kouta-Sensei. And Shizuka had intensified her training with Kakashi who had finally started teaching basic lightning jutsus and the sensory squad.

Therefore, when the first opportunity arose, they took it and had a team lunch in a dango shop to celebrate Masaru's promotion to Chūnin and to catch up. Shizuka and Kaito asked for a full rundown of what the tests and the competition were like.

"Well, I'm sad we missed that final. Sounds like it was quite the show." Kaito laughed as Masaru finished describing the fight, "Well done, Masaru. We knew you could do it."

"Yes, we're all very proud." Kouta smiled at his students. "Now team four has officially run its course. The squad will remain for high-level infiltration missions, but you might have other people join in or not be in the same squad at all."

"Shame. I was just warming up to them." Shizuka teased as she sipped her tea her teammates only rolled their eyes.

"We should still meet up, not having you guys around will make life boring." Masaru suggested, and the others smiled and nodded in response, "Now Sensei, you said you had something for us?"

"Technically not your Sensei anymore, but I doubt you will stop it." Kouta looked at his former students and by their expressions, he knew he was right, "Yes, I have gifts for your promotion. It took a while to track these down, but I managed."

He reached into his pouch and pulled out three unassuming scrolls, handing one to each student.

"Those are summoning contracts. Kaito, you have the lemurs, agile and surprisingly good with blades. Masaru you have the bats, not big fighters but adept at genjutsu. Shizuka, you have the racoons, intelligent and too curious for their own good. "

"How did you get these? Aren't summoning contracts hard to come across?" Kaito asked as he opened his scroll and skimmed the names of the previous summoners.

"The squirrels contacted the racoons and the lemurs, but I had to go meet an old contact to get the bats." Kouta rubbed the back of his head as his students grinned at him in excitement.

"Best gift ever!" Shizuka cheered as she nudged Kouta with her shoulder as he was sitting next to her, while the others sat across from them.

"They match our specialities and personality. Thank you, Sensei, these will be much treasured." Kaito smiled and rolled his scroll around. "But you'll have to help us out with this, so how about one last training?"

"Fine, we can start in a week. Masaru and I need to relax after so long away." Kouta sighed and leaned back into his seat.

" _You_ need to relax? You helped me train for that month, and then you were just watching." Masaru shook his head as his Sensei just shrugged. "But I agree. Next week."

For the rest of their lunch, Shizuka and Kaito filled the other two in on the missions they received while the others were in the exams.

* * *

Another week went by and Shizuka had finally completed a basic rotation in the different sectors of the village, allowing her more free time to work on specific areas of interest, such as the sensory squad. Initially, they ran some protocols with her, such as signalling and leaving trails of chakra imprints that only other leaf sensors would know what to look for.

They had her do a whole load of scavenger hunts around the village and surrounding areas and repeatedly tested on her range and sensitivity.

Shizuka waved at Aoba who had trained her in all the sessions so far. She was surprised to notice that he wasn't alone this time and standing beside him was another man. The man was tall and wore the Intelligence Division uniform with half of his head wrapped and his hitai-ate across both his eyes.

' _Interesting… He must use his sensing abilities to navigate.'_ Shizuka came to a stop as the stranger introduced himself.

"Shizuka-chan, I'm Tobitake Tonbo. I work for the analysis department in the Intelligence division but am also on the sensory squad."

"It's a pleasure meeting you. Your abilities must be very refined if you can fight without the use of your eyes." Shizuka nodded her head slightly in his direction as he chuckled at her blunt statement.

"Hai, and I hear you need help in refining yours."

"Hai. My range is still four miles, but it leaves me with a pounding headache." The Nara explains, her eyes briefly darting between to men, "I assume that's what we'll be working on in these practices?"

"I will help you in narrowing your focus, allowing you to pinpoint more accurately specifics. I can also help you with pushing your senses out while keeping attention to your immediate surroundings, that is what Aoba is here for." Tonbo explained as he gestured to Aoba.

"Let me guess: dodge training?" Shizuka deadpanned, bringing smirks to both of the guys' faces. "How troublesome."

"Such a Nara…" Aoba teased as he sat down on the grass, "Before that, we will narrow your focus. I've informed a few people of this training and requested they let me know where they would be in the village around this time. Don't worry, these are people you know."

"You need to tell us where they are, now no cheating, you can probably figure out where some of them are simply based on their schedules, so do try sensing them."

"Alright, who am I searching for?" Shizuka closed her eyes and prepared herself for the names.

"To start with someone you'll be very familiar with, find your father." Tonbo sounded from just in front of her.

' _He'll probably be around administration, so North of here.'_ Shizuka breathed in and allowed her senses to stretch out. Obviously, the two men next to her were the most notable signatures as they were so close. She could tell both were sensing the area around them, she could feel their senses brush.

"He's in the administration building." Shizuka frowned, it seemed off, almost blurry, it took her a moment to realise why "He's suppressing it."

"Yes, we told some of the people, the ones you will be most familiar with to suppress it. Now, that you've pinpointed him, how many others can you feel?" Tonbo confirmed, his own senses continuously weaving around hers.

"Too many. The administration building is crawling with ninja." Shizuka sighed, "You want me to focus on my father's signature until I can pretty much ignore all others?"

"Exactly, and from there we will give you another task."

"It's harder than it looks." Shizuka commented as she tried narrowing her focus on her father's signature.

"Think about when you are fighting, during any fight with your team you would be feeling much more intense signatures," Tonbo replied as he drew his senses back and focused on Shizuka. "But you don't feel overwhelmed despite your sensitivity. It's likely that you focus on your opponent, while only having your teammates in the back of your mind."

"Which means you are already able to do this unconsciously, now we are training to do it consciously." Aoba concluded as he observed Shizuka carefully, taking note that a faint sheen of sweat was already gathering on her brow.

For the rest of the day, the older shinobi gave her 'targets' and small tasks to complete with each one. Once they were done, Aoba recommended her to practice in her own time and that the next time they met they would give her harder tasks before moving on to fighting scenarios.

* * *

After a quick lunch at a dumpling restaurant, Shizuka went towards the research facilities to meet up with Anko to discuss new projects.

"Hi, Anko-Senpai!" Shizuka grinned as she walked into the lab room the purple haired woman had commandeered. "What's the plan for today?"

"We need to test out the recipe from last week. And I got the last ingredients we needed for stabilising the first project we teamed up for." Anko grinned as she gestured to the vials of a dark purple liquid resting on the counter.

"Wonderful! I brought my notes for that one and was calculating the dosage we needed for the extract." Shizuka pulled out a scroll from her pouch and opened it on the counter next to a microscope.

Once Shizuka walked Anko through all the calculations she had gone through and what she thought would happen with each dosage they started preparing the mixtures.

"Let's start with the most concentrated we can expect it to be unstable and slowly decrease it." Shizuka suggested as she pulled out test tubes with the base substance they had already perfected. "That way we know the minimum amount we need to get any reaction as well as the range of effects."

"Perfect! In between our observations, we can test the poison recipe from last week." Anko clapped her hands as she moved to get the equipment they would need. "How many sample slides will we need for the microscope?"

"A dozen? Who knows what will happen to them when we put the samples on them."

With all the ingredients separated the duo started with their experiments, methodically adding catalysts to the base liquid and sampling them onto the microscope slides. Every couple of minutes they would check on the sample but in between checkpoints they started on the poison they had decided to create.

For several hours the duo experimented with different combinations and took notes on different reactions. After each trial they would discuss whether it matched predictions and documented their findings. And once they had finished with the poison, they had to wait for it to boil for a few minutes before they could test it out.

"So Kotetsu caught Izumo asking the girl they both liked out? What did he do?" Shizuka giggled as Anko told her of the latest gossip as they worked on their notes.

"Nothing at the time! He did show up during the date and the three of them had dinner." Anko snorted as she finished writing, sliding the paper so that Shizuka could compare their notes.

Shizuka laughed as she leaned back in her chair, turning to the side so that she faced Anko properly. She was just about to ask for more information when the sound of someone clearing their throat caused the two to turn towards the door to see the Jōnin Commander inside the lab with his eyebrows raised.

"Anko, Shizuka, good evening." Shikaku walked towards them and looked over his daughter's shoulder to see the notes sprawled over the desk, then moving from the bubbling mixture to the steaming sample under the microscope and back to Shizuka. "Do I even want to know?"

"Don't come too close because it reacts to chakra?" Shizuka grinned before her eyes widened when she noticed the steaming sample. She leapt up removing the sample from the microscope and tossing it into a decontamination tank. "Three… Two… one…."

Shizuka flinched as she heard the glass shatter before she opened the tap to wash out the liquid.

"Anko-Senpai, I think it's still too unstable…"

Anko looked from her 'student' to the Jōnin commander who had a thoroughly unimpressed look.

"Well! I'm sure we'll get it next time!" Anko grinned as she wrote down the reaction. "Any smells? How long did it take for the glass to crack? How-"

"Ah, Anko-san, I believe my daughter and I need to go, we are already late for dinner." Shikaku crossed his arms as he looked at his daughter, "Your mother was clear that she wanted you to be on time today."

"Bye, Anko-Senpai!" Shizuka called as she followed her father out the door and towards the Nara compound.

* * *

"Good morning, Itachi-Senpai!" Shizuka called as she walked into the clearing they usually trained in.

"Morning." Itachi looked over his shoulder from where he stood to collect some kunai from one of the targets that were around the clearing.

Shizuka blinked slowly but made no comment on his reaction as she moved to the large rock to the side and started some stretches while Itachi finished up.

"Should we do just taijutsu first or my tantōs against your katana?" Shizuka glanced at the Uchiha heir from the corner of her eye.

"Blades and weapons only, we'll add ninjutsu in slowly. You need to get the timing with your shadows better." Itachi moved to the other side of the roc where he retrieved his katana. "Ready?"

As soon as Shizuka nodded, Itachi dashed forward swinging his katana towards her weaker side.

' _First move? He never starts.'_ Shizuka switched to a defensive stance just in time to block the incoming attack. For nearly half an hour the Uchiha swung hard and fast, weaving between different sequences and didn't comment or make suggestions when he landed any scratches on her and he didn't even dodge a shadow tendril from her blade.

' _He's almost going all out. I can barely keep up.'_ Shizuka grunted as the boy landed a kick to her side while keeping her blades locked with his. _'I won't be able to keep this up for much longer.'_

Shizuka jumped back to try to gain some space but Itachi pursued, his Sharingan spinning and focused on her form. The spar continued with no words being exchanged, Shizuka received several blows and a couple scratches, but nothing serious.

' _While its normal for me to get a couple bruises, he's not holding back as much today.'_ Shizuka somersaulted backwards as she lost one of her tantō, pulling out a kunai instead. _'What's going on in that head of his?'_

The spar continued for a few more minutes before Itachi took advantage of an opening and landed a kick to her stomach that sent her flying to the floor.

"Yield." Shizuka groaned as she rolled onto her knees. Panting she looked up at her sparring partner as he stood a few feet away looking rather intently at the katana in his hand.

"It seems like it was I that had my mind distracted today." Itachi put the katana back into its sheath and leaned on the rock from before.

"No worries. It's good to see how much I still have to improve." Shizuka shrugged as she moved to lean next to him. "Something on your mind?"

"Nothing of your concern." Itachi sighed once the words left his mouth and paused for a few moments before continuing, "Missions have been taxing recently, but it shouldn't be an issue for much longer."

Shizuka stayed silent, she knew he had been busy recently. Ever since Shisui died, nearly six months before, Itachi had all but disappeared from the village. He was constantly being sent on missions and when he was in the village he never had time to train.

"I should probably return, my father had asked to see me." Itachi sighed as he pushed himself off the rock and turned to the Nara looking over her form once more. "You need to cover the back of your right shoulder more and your timing on catching shadows from my blade is still off, try observing how the shadows act with different blades."

Shizuka nodded in acceptance of his advice and watched as he moved towards the path that would lead him to the Uchiha compound. Before he disappeared into the trees he glanced over his shoulder at Shizuka who was still observing him from her place against the rock.

"Thank you for the spar, I'll be in contact."

* * *

After a shower, she went to the Intelligence Division to check if any of the cases she was working on had any updates. She was greeted by the receptionist who told her to go straight to Inoichi's office for a brief meeting.

Her body was on autopilot while she still picked at Itachi's _' "It shouldn't be an issue for much longer' I wonder what he means. Maybe he's pulling back from ANBU?'_ Shizuka mindlessly nodded towards whoever passed her in the hallways as she continued her mental monologue.

' _How old was he when he joined anyways? Shame I can't ask anyone as I'm technically not supposed to know.'_ She mentally rolled her eyes, it's not like it wasn't hard to figure out where a genius like Itachi would fit into the Konoha forces.

"Ah, Shizuka-chan, you're here. Please have a seat," Inoichi gestured towards the seat in front of his desk. "We've received quite a few odd reports from different CIs and teams, they seem to be linked in different manners. Close locations, same description of people, items disappearing from one place and appearing somewhere else."

Inoichi shuffled through some papers on his desk and put them into some folders before handing them to Shizuka, who started flicking through said reports.

"I know you are already involved in several task forces, but I was wondering if you could have a look into these and see if we missed anything. I can get you access to more information, but you might want to start with those."

"I have time. Though I have to ask, why me?" Shizuka glanced over sketches of suspected shinobi and possible links to Bingo books.

"Your mind maps caught some attention, you've earned quite the reputation around here. Team leaders have been charmed by your work ethic. Your father is irritated thinking that I'll have you replace me as head of Intel before he suggests you to replace him." Inoichi snickered as Shizuka's eyebrow rose before she huffed and looked back to the folders.

"Not even a Jōnin yet." She grumbled as she shut the folders "Alright, I'll have a look at these now. I'll probably use the rest of the afternoon for these, so I might stop by in the morning with a list of requests."

"Not a problem, I'll also let the others on the task force that you'll make a little map for us." Inoichi leaned back in his chair and tilted his head, "Have you ever thought of getting some CIs for yourself?"

"I have, but I haven't ever met anyone who would be a worthy confidential informant. But it is definitely something I'll keep in mind." Shizuka shrugged.

"In any case, you have a lot of time." Inoichi stood and Shizuka did the same the two moving to the door. "Good luck with the map, you might want to use the wall that is completely empty, I'm pretty sure it will be a large one."

"Hai, thank you, Inoichi-Oji. See you later." Shizuka smiled at the man as she walked towards her 'office'.

Shizuka flicked through the documents as she walked down the stairs and around the staircase to the right corridor. She only looked up as the sound of a cane sounded in her direction.

Looking up she was met with the sight of Shimura Danzō walking towards the staircase she had just descended.

Stepping to the side to clear the way and offering the elder a swift bow she continued on her way only to be called back.

"You are Nara Shizuka, Nara Shikaku's eldest daughter, correct?"

"Hai, Danzō-sama." Shizuka bowed her head again as she faced the elder, mentally taking note of the ANBU guard hidden along the corridor.

"I've heard you have made a name for yourself in the sensory squad, such talent is rare at a young age." Danzō's voice was almost quiet but firm, he knew the power he held and expected people to listen. "Your skill set would be very well suited for ANBU, say, have you ever considered joining?"

"Its crossed my mind, but never made any concrete plans."

She could tell he expected her to elaborate, but before he could reply, she felt the familiar sensation of her father's approaching signature.

"Danzō-sama, I did not expect to see you at Intel today." Her father's deep voice sounded from behind her.

"Just checking in on some task forces." The elder looked from the clan head to his daughter once before nodding once and turning back to the staircase, the sound of his steps and the cane echoing through the hall.

"Tō-san, perfect timing." Shizuka looked up at her father with raised eyebrows before she continued to her mind map room, her father walking right behind her.

"What did he ask you?" Her father asked once he sat down in her chair at the little desk in the room with the door closed behind them.

"Whether I had plans of joining ANBU." Shizuka shrugged as she moved to the centre of the room and started laying out the files Inoichi had given her. "Gave the vague answer of thought of it but never made plans."

"Beware what you say to that man, he would hold it over your head." Shikaku sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "How was training?"

"Intense, Itachi really didn't hold back." Shizuka huffed as she absentmindedly rubbed at a bruise on her shoulder. "I don't suppose that would get me out of training tonight?"

The deadpan look her father sent her said it all. Shizuka would have continued the conversation but the feeling of someone approaching the room caused her to turn towards the door instead.

"Come in!" Shizuka called before the person could knock, grinning as she noted Kotetsu on the other side.

"Tiny! Hokage-sama has a mission us." Kotetsu glanced around the room and stood up straighter when he noticed the Jōnin commander sitting at the desk, "Shikaku-san, sorry to interrupt."

"Who else is coming with us?" Shizuka questioned as she put all the documents into the folder and into the locked drawer at her desk.

"Izumo and Yamanaka Emiko." Kotetsu replied as he held the door open for her to exit.

"Alright. Tō-san, I probably won't see you before I leave." Standing on her toes she kissed her father's cheek. "Seems like I will escape that training session after all."

"I'll be sure to make the next one longer to compensate." Her father huffed in amusement as she wrinkled her nose. "Take care and good luck."

With a nod to the younger shinobi, Shikaku made his way to his teammate's office. The two Chūnin didn't stay in the building for long, animatedly chatting as they made their way to the nearby Hokage's building to meet their teammates for a briefing.

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **I do love hearing from everyone whether it's in the comments or private messages. I try to reply as fast as I can to any questions.**

 **Reply to comment:**

 **Pigs103**

 **Thank you! I'll be sure to include more sibling cuteness when I can :)**

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	24. Curiosity

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 24 - Curiosity**

The initial mission of clearing out a bandit group had been rather simple. The bandits had been incredibly unorganised and although they had some decently trained members the ambush threw them all into a panic.

The mission had been predicted to last a little over a week but was over in only a few days. When the team stopped at a small village on the way home and heard rumours of a group of rogue-nin stealing from passing merchants they sent notice to the Hokage who allowed them to investigate.

With new orders, the team went straight to gathering information. They had entered the village as shinobi so they didn't bother covering the fact up, but they had to work fast before the group could hear of their investigation.

Their new objective proved to be more complicated as there were definitely a couple Chūnin ranked rogues from Grass involved in the group. Luckily the rogues didn't have much talent in their ranks. Just five Chūnin with a couple other mercenaries. They were more organised which is what made the entire operation a little harder.

But alas, the Konoha Chūnin team proved to work well together once again. The Nara and Yamanaka took care of the guards opening the way to the older and more experienced Chūnin who quickly eliminated the mercenaries and one of the rogue Chūnin.

That was when they were noticed by the other shinobi in the base.

After the battle had just started Shizuka and Emiko ended up trading opponents. Emiko's original opponent was proficient at close range combat while Shizuka's opponent was a fire user who seemed rather focused on burning her to a crisp.

It didn't take long for the fight to move into the forest outside of the small warehouse the group had used as a base.

"Tiny, a gift for you." Izumo called as he kicked his opponent who was wrapped in ninja wire into her range.

Shizuka glanced over and flew through the handsigns for the shadow stitching, quickly sending tendrils through a couple vital points of the enemy before releasing his limp form and jumping over her opponents strike with a naginata blade.

"Care to help me with this one?" Shizuka slid to a stop next to the older Chūnin her eyes pausing on Emiko's rapidly weakening opponent and Kotetsu already pressing his advantage on his injured opponent.

Izumo grinned as he unsealed a naginata from a scroll.

"Gladly." With that, he dashed forwards trying to push his opponent to leave an opening for her to attack with her shorter blades.

From there it was a matter of minutes before Izumo locked their blades downwards, allowing Shizuka to dash around Izumo and slit their opponent's throat with a clean swipe.

"Well, that was an interesting detour." Kotetsu joked as he and Emiko approached once confirming their opponents were dead. "Any other improvised missions on the agenda?"

"Just a cleanup. Let's raid the warehouse, then home." Izumo sighed, glancing around the clearing he gestured around them. "Kotetsu and Emiko check the bodies and get rid of evidence, Shizuka and I will check the base."

In the end, their one week mission ended up being a three-week double mission.

For the returning Chūnin it had gone by incredibly fast, but for the people in Konoha, it had been a very long three weeks.

That is why the news they got upon their arrival was so shocking.

"Uchiha Itachi has killed the entirety of the Uchiha clan, leaving his younger brother as the sole survivor. He is now a rogue ninja of the hidden leaf. A detailed protocol of encounter will be issued within the next few days." The Sandaime reported to them once they had finished their debrief. His tone was grave and his face stern, he seemed to have aged years in the few weeks they had been away.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The team bowed and left the office. Shizuka waved to them as she moved towards her father's office.

She didn't even have to knock, as Inoichi opened the door just as she moved to do so.

"Shizuka-chan, welcome back." Inoichi stepped aside letting her walk into the office.

"Tō-san, Inoichi-Oji, it seems like a lot has gone on since I left." Shizuka sat down across from her father as Inoichi did the same. "When? How is Sasuke? What do you know? What-"

"A week ago." Shikaku interrupted his daughter with a raised hand, he sighed before continuing. "Sasuke was unconscious for a couple days, he woke up the day before last. He said Itachi did it to test his powers. He left the village immediately after and knocked out the ANBU sent after him."

"The rest is classified." Inoichi completed and before Shizuka could comment he shook his head at her. "There isn't much more we know, nothing in his file that points to this type of behaviour. He has always been the quiet type, not many connections…"

"I don't know anything." Shizuka shook her head at the implication. "During spars he gave advice and helped when I asked, I taught him how to throw a sensor off."

"That explains how he threw the tracking squad off..." Inoichi sighed while her father simply stared at her.

"He was a friend, how was I supposed to know he'd use it to escape the sensors. Besides, he's smart and talented enough to have been able to improve his cloaking alone, I just gave him a shortcut."

"The last training you had with him, before your mission, you said he didn't hold back. Was he acting oddly? Maybe he said something out of character?"

Shizuka sighed and thought back to the last time she had seen the Uchiha. He had indeed been acting oddly, tense, not holding back, no comments on her form. _'What did he say then? 'Missions have been taxing recently, but it shouldn't be an issue for much longer.' '_

"He said missions were taxing but that it wouldn't be an issue for long. I assumed he would leave ANBU or something never something this drastic."

Her father and Inoichi leaned back into their seats she didn't have to look up from her clasped hands to know they had shared a look and were expecting her to continue.

' _Thank you for the spar, I'll be in contact.'_

"I could barely keep up that day, but he's made it harder for me before, so that wasn't too different. He did seem distracted, but I just took it as stress from missions."

"Alright." Shikaku sighed after a few moments and stood from his chair, walking around his desk to ruffle his daughter's hair. "We should head home, the Yamanaka-Nara-Akimichi barbeque is tonight and I'm sure you want to rest before that."

"I have one last meeting today, but I'll call it an early day too. I'll see you both later." Inoichi shook her father's hand and left towards the Intelligence building just down the street.

"Let me collect some papers so that I can work from home." The Nara clan head gave his daughter's head one more pat before he moved to collect some documents from his desk.

Shizuka took the moment to look out the window, watching the villagers walk through the streets as if nothing major had happened just a week before.

' _Itachi… Why?'_

"Ready?" Shizuka turned to her father as he held the door open for her to pass through.

"Hai."

* * *

Shizuka was chatting with Emiko's younger brother and her during the barbeque when she noticed a light in her uncle's bedroom flicker on. Searching the crowd she spotted her mother and father also glance in the direction before returning to their conversations.

It was only after an hour that her uncle graced their backyard, his customary slouch in place as he greeted the people, moving straight to his brother and a couple of their cousins.

"Excuse me a moment. Just going to say hi to my uncle before he manages to escape to go to sleep." Shizuka smiled at the Yamanaka siblings and moved in the direction of her uncle, falling into step with her mother who was also heading in that direction.

"Daichi-Oji, welcome home!" Shizuka greeted the man with a quick kiss on the cheek and smiled at the older Nara around her.

"Yes, Daichi, welcome home." Yoshino narrowed her eyes at the man and he rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish expression.

"Sorry for the delay?"

"Not a single word. For nearly two months!" Yoshino huffed causing the others to laugh before excusing themselves to mingle with the rest of the guests.

"I said I'd be delayed! And I sent a letter three weeks ago!"

"' _I'm alive but a bit delayed. Here's some info.'_ Does NOT count as a letter. It's barely a note."

Shikaku and Shizuka simply stared back and forth between the two, both of them holding in their snickers.

"You never were one for long reports, Daichi." A familiar voice sounded from behind them.

"Kouta-sensei! I thought you couldn't make it today." Shizuka grinned at her sensei as he approached them. "Kaito and Masaru are still on their mission then?"

"Hai, they left just a couple days ago and aren't due back for at least another week." Kouta let a small smile grace his lips as he noticed Shizuka's more casual outfit, to which his former student shrugged when she noticed his glance.

"It's been a while since I let Ka-san play dress up." Shizuka snickered as her mother gave the back of her head a small slap, glancing around she noticed her brother talking to one her father's distant cousins. "Looks like Shika needs rescuing from Makiko-Oba-San."

Dodging under another slap and a caution warning from her mother she slipped away from the group towards her little brother, who sent her a relieved smile as she approached.

"Good evening, Makiko-Oba-San." Shizuka smiled at her aunt.

"Shizuka! Oh, how you've grown! I barely see you in the compound anymore." Makiko wasn't a Nara by birth but had married one of Shikaku's cousins. She didn't stick out too much with her honey blond hair and dark eyes, but she was still a civilian and most of their interactions seemed as if there was a veil separating their very different worlds.

"Hai, I've been busy with… my job." Shizuka glanced at her younger brother who seemed ready to move away from their fussy aunt. "You wouldn't mind if I stole Shika away, would you? I wanted to introduce him properly to some friends before they went home."

"Oh, of course, dear. I do miss the time you were little and I would watch over you when your parents were busy. It seems like you barely have time for your dear aunt." Makiko reached over and pinched their cheeks before waving them off wishing them a good evening.

"How did Benjiro-Oji end up with her anyway?" Shikamaru kicked his feet into the ground as they walked slowly across the yard.

"Met during a mission of his. I remember sitting through her retelling of it." Shizuka scrunches her nose demonstrating just how much she enjoyed that tale. "Be glad mother and father spared you because she had just had her own son just before you were born, so they 'didn't want to bother'."

"I assumed you complained?"

"I couldn't let my otouto suffer the evils of civilian embellished shinobi tales with our Oba-san." Shizuka snickered as she nudged her brother playfully before she looked up and grinned at the Yamanaka siblings again.

"Shika, here's my equivalent of Ino, Emiko and her little brother who likely could have been my equivalent of Ino, Reiji." Shizuka teased as the Yamanaka siblings shook their heads.

While Shikamaru knew Emiko by name, they hadn't ever talked before and he didn't even know she had a brother. Although Shizuka claimed Emiko as her Ino equivalent he really couldn't identify similarities other than they had the same eyes and blond hair, although Emiko's hair was a slightly darker shade of blond.

The group was soon joined by Ino herself and Chōji who had been walking around greeting other people since that was pretty much the objective of the event: bonding with allied clans and networking.

The group continued chatting for a while before dispersing again for a final round of greeting and chatting so that they could claim the event purpose fulfilled and retire to their own homes.

* * *

Later in the evening, as the guests started to leave, Shikaku was standing towards the path leading around his house and towards the exit of the compound when Kouta approached him.

"Kouta, thank you for coming."

"Thank you for having me." Kouta glanced around before looking back at the clan head. "I must admit that the food and company weren't the only reasons I came."

Shikaku straitened up slightly and nodded towards the porch of his house where they could talk with less fear of being overheard by the people leaving.

"A former ANBU comrade has recently been named a captain is looking for a rookie for his team, he asked about Shizuka."

"Already? She's not even fourteen yet." Shikaku shook his head, his eyes scanning the yard before flickering towards Shizuka's bedroom window and then his brother's window. "She hasn't ruled it out, but nothing planned."

"You've talked about this before," Kouta stated observing the man. "I have spoken to her too, very early on though and she said the same you just did."

"We talked about it just before her last mission just after she had a run in with Danzō." His tone was carefully neutral but Kouta could tell he wasn't pleased with the interest in his daughter's career. "And now, after Itachi? It wouldn't be an easy transfer."

"In any case, I said she wouldn't be interested. But he won't be the last person to inquire about her." Kouta sighed as he leaned against the wall of the house. "She has quite the list of trainers, most associated with ANBU on their own, wouldn't be hard to assume she has a solid foundation for her to complete their training."

"She said she wanted to make Jōnin or at least Tokujo before joining, so that's at least a couple more years until she considers joining." Shikaku let the _'if she considers at all'_ go unsaid.

"Kaito has also expressed interest in joining but he is a bit behind Shizuka, especially in the tracking department and so I'll offer her the opportunity to join in the training." Kouta pushed off the wall and shook hands with the other man. "Thank you again, I'll keep you informed if anyone else contacts me."

"That would be appreciated, thank you. Have a good night." Shikaku watched the man disappear around the corner with the last few guests before entering his house and heading straight to bed.

Shizuka rose bright and early the next morning and moved about her bedroom to get changed into comfy training clothes before going downstairs.

"Good morning, Tō-san, Oji-san." Kissing each man on the cheek she grabbed an apple from the fruit basket on the table and sitting next to her uncle.

"You going somewhere this morning?" Her father asked as he noted her she wasn't wearing her usual 'day-off' clothes.

"I wanted to do some light running this morning, maybe some meditation later." Shizuka grinned as she heard the sounds of complaining from the backyard. "Is Shika doing a new stretching routine?"

"Hai, your mother has decided he should learn her complete version." Daichi glanced up from his mission report to smirk at his niece. "Speaking of training I have new Wind jutsus for you, how about some training this week?"

"Always have time for training with you, Oji-san. How long are you staying for?"

"Don't forget clan jutsu training with me. I do recall you skipping on the last session to go on a mission, which you extended." Shikaku narrowed his eyes at his daughter who slouched in her seat. "Shizuka, you're the one that decided to get creative with the family jutsu, I will not do the work for you."

"Are we still doing theory? Or can we do something practical?"

"For your experimentation still theory, but I can teach you another existing one that will suit your style." Shikaku watched as her expression changed from unenthusiastic back to a smile.

"Thank you. In that case, Oji-san how about you show me one Wind jutsu and keep the rest for later?" Her uncle nodded in agreement and she gave them a smile before standing from her position to go to the backyard. "Ka-san, Shika have a good day! I'll see you for dinner! Tō-san, Oji-san see you later."

Shizuka started a light jog down the path out of the compound. Letting her feet guide her around the village she ran past a couple shinobi returning from their night shifts and greeted the ones she recognised with smiles and 'good mornings'.

As she normally did, she finished her run at the training grounds team four used to meet up at and from there she did some stretches and ran through some katas before calling a break.

On the way back home she took the familiar shortcut through a wooded area and quickly came to the clearing she used to practice with Itachi.

' _Now, he said he'd be in contact, but unless he tracks me down outside of the village that would be hard to do. And even then I'd likely have a team with me.'_ Walking around the clearing she expanded her senses to look for anything that might be out of the ordinary.

Sure enough, inside one of the tree trunks that had previously had a target attached to it, she found a small folded note.

' _Coded too, damn Itachi.'_

Sitting on the floor with her back to the boulder Shizuka started working on breaking the code. While it was harder than what she expected she didn't mind it too much, at this point she just wanted to know what it said.

' _Dark Traveller,_

 _I know you won't take their words for truth, but I must ask that you let it go. Nothing good would ever come of you looking into this._

 _Remember curiosity killed the cat._

 _Keep an eye on our little helper.'_

Shizuka read the note again and tore it to minuscule shreds with a wind jutsu and let them scatter in the wind. Letting out a sigh she let her head fall back against the rock.

' _Something is up, but I'll respect your wishes.'_

She didn't even have much to go on other than he had been busy and tense. Maybe it was about a mission, maybe it was a conflict of interest. Uchiha's didn't often join ANBU, they normally were folded into the police department.

Shaking her head she stopped her train of thought. Itachi had clearly said not to look into it. She wasn't too sure about the curiosity killed the cat part either. Sure it was a proverb she often heard from her parents and teammates, usually when she had that _look_ as they said where they could tell she was already thinking of something new to try.

The fact that he included it could either mean looking into it could get her killed or it could be a threat. Somehow the latter just didn't seem plausible. While the Uchiha heir had always been hard to read she was fairly certain he had no ill will against her.

' _Not to mention he seems to trust me enough to keep an eye on Sasuke. He is more likely to have threatened me for that than looking into his actions.'_

Sinking into her usual thinking pose she continued to mull over what she knew. Even if she let the subject drop after today she at least wanted to leave the little information in a reasonably organised manner.

' _No names, so clearly meant to be kept a secret. No investigation or risk getting killed. Keep an eye on his little brother. And… That's it.'_

Shizuka let out a frustrated sigh. She knew Itachi wouldn't accidentally reveal anything he didn't want to so she'd have to live with whatever burning questions she had.

' _Itachi, if we ever meet again, remember you owe me one.'_

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **I do love hearing from everyone whether it's in the comments or private messages. I try to reply as fast as I can to any questions.**

 **Reply to comment:**

 **Candice**

 **Thank you! I enjoy writing about Shizuka and her relationships. In terms of Itachi... This chapter should have pretty obvious clues as to what will happen there. But who knows...**

 **Thanks for the review!**


	25. Time Flies

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Again very sorry for the long jump, but nothing too interesting happens in those two years. Once again the first few chapters will summarise what happened during the time period and any specific moment that is relevant will show up as a flashback.**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think and any questions you have and I'll happily answer.**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 25 - Time Flies**

"Can you believe it's been two years since we were at our own promotion party?" Masaru laughed as he threw his arms around Shizuka's and Kaito's shoulders as they walked towards the bar where the party was being held.

"Two years for you, Masa, six months more for us." Shizuka sighed as she allowed herself to be dragged into her tallest teammate's side.

"Details. How's active duty been treating you, Zuka?" Masaru ruffled her hair and allowed her to pull herself out of his side hug.

"The year of light duties I took so that I could train paid off." Shizuka put her hands in her pockets. "But it's nice to be home too."

As soon as they entered the bar Kaito and Masaru moved to greet some Chūnin near the bar while she was left to look around the room.

There were a good number of Chūnin she didn't recognise.

After the Uchiha Massacre Shizuka took on a much lighter schedule of missions and instead dedicated herself to the task force Inoichi had put her in. She had ended up only having missions related to the task force and this caused her to spend most of her time in the village.

To fill in the time she wasn't working at Intelligence she trained with her father or was left to her own devices. Once a week she would join Kouta and Kaito on his specialised training or she would train alone with Kouta when Kaito was away. When both were away and she had the time she would try to track down Kakashi and pester him for a new lightning jutsu. The Jōnin would demonstrate as many times as she asked and disappear after observing for a few minutes.

After a little over a year of light duties and heavy training, Shizuka was recommended by Aoba and Kouta for a Tokubetsu Jōnin promotion, but she had by then fallen behind on the required mission count. This led her to take on a nearly consecutive streak of missions for the last several months, which meant she was barely home.

Shuffling to the side to allow more Chūnin to enter the bar she smiled in greeting and returned to scanning the crowd. Easily spotting the guests of honour she moved towards them.

"Reiji-kun, congratulations on your promotion." Shizuka approached the group of recently promoted Chūnin and shook hands with the Yamanaka. "Hope we get the chance to work together sometime."

"Shizuka-chan! Thank you for coming! I hope we do too." The blond smiled and the two moved to sit in one of the booths that had been booked for the party. "You could have told me about the challenge though."

"I wouldn't dare interfere with tradition." Shizuka snorted as she eyes the people around them. "Have you been introduced to any of the Chūnin yet?"

"Hai, Emiko introduced me to a couple, but there are some Tokujō and Jōnin that I haven't met."

"I'll introduce you sometime, but I can't see any of my friends here so it'll have to wait."

"How have you been? I haven't seen you since your fifteenth birthday party two months ago and you missed the last barbeque."

"Hai, I was on a long mission for the last few weeks." Shizuka shrugged. "I was nominated by Aoba-Senpai, the head of the sensory squad, for a Tokubetsu Jōnin promotion, but I needed to increase my mission count."

"Tokujō! So sensory and tracking speciality?"

"Sensory and infiltration, but tracking isn't too far off either. It should be made official in a month or so." Shizuka grinned. "You'll have more catching up to do."

"I like a challenge."

The two laughed and were soon joined by other of the recently promoted Chūnin who asked her about the different divisions and advice for the coming months.

* * *

Just a week later Shizuka was called for an infiltration mission and possible assassination with her uncle as the only other person on the team.

' _This isn't suspicious at all.'_ Shizuka rolled her eyes as she ran ahead of her uncle, her senses spread for any signs of life.

Deciding to keep her comments to herself, for now, she waited until they set up camp the first night to bring up her thoughts on the situation.

"So, Kouta-Sensei finally gave in to the requests?" Shizuka glanced across the little fire where their dinner was roasting at her uncle who looked up sharply from his book. "What, why else send me on an assassination mission with a Jōnin and former ANBU as my only support just before my promotion to Tokujō?"

"I told them you'd figure it out." Daichi sighed as he put his book away and shifted his position so that his elbows rested on his knees and his chin rested on his clasped hands. "Reducing your mission intake took their focus away, but now that you're back they have been more insistent in testing you."

"And they let you be the one to test me? Isn't there a conflict?"

"I've technically left ANBU. But I still have contact with some people there and will occasionally do some scouting." Daichi paused to observe his niece. "You know they don't say when they will test you. You've been on their watch list for a while."

"So I've been told." Shizuka shook her head. "I'm not ready, even if I pass I don't want to join just yet."

"I know. Kouta and I have made that part clear to them. When, and _if_ , you want to join all you have to do is ask and we'll get you into their training program, from what I hear you won't have an issue there."

"Kouta-Sensei has been preparing us, Masaru isn't interested in ANBU, but he joins occasionally at least for the training."

"Kaito still has a few ways to go, but he's on the watch list too. You have quite the head start though on him though."

Shizuka tilted her head as she contemplated that information. She knew it had a lot to do with who she trained with, but also due to her skills in infiltration and sensing.

She was well versed in the pros and cons of joining, having gone through them with her father and her sensei several times over the years. She was pretty set on her decision to join in the possible if a bit distant, future. Her uncle seemed to realise she wouldn't add anything to the topic and seemed to relax his posture.

"Get some rest, I'll take first watch." With a mumbled goodnight Shizuka made herself comfortable and fell into a light doze.

* * *

The mission went smoothly. They had been hired to assassinate a merchant with several ties to a corrupt politician to send a message to his associates that they were on to his trail.

It wasn't her first assassination mission, but it was the first one she was in charge and fully expected to take action herself. When the time came, she slid into the target's office and completed the mission without any hitches.

Obviously, something had to happen.

On the way back to the village, Shizuka identified four high ranking shinobi lying within her range in their way to get back into the ire country. They tried circling around but they would risk falling into a trap, so they pushed ahead to meet their opponents head-on.

The Nara's didn't even share their surprise to see Iwa ninja instead of Grass. Though Shizuka couldn't help but let a small smile slip through at her uncle's amused snicker.

Pulling out her tantōs, she didn't need to say much to her uncle before he connected his shadow to hers as she sprinted full speed ahead. While faking a slash, she waited until last minute to dance around the woman's attempt at parrying her blade and instead moved on to the man next to her. She felt the moment her uncle's shadow disconnected from her and launched into the first woman's throat.

"Nara! Watch the shadows!" The man furthest from Shizuka called as he launched to the side, his hands flying through handsigns.

Their fast attack had made the situation slightly more even, three enemies for the two of them. The man she had targeted wasn't too tall, but he was much bulkier and Shizuka could tell he had average chakra reserves at best. Her uncle was already engaged with the other two ninjas, the man who yelled earlier who was an earth ninjutsu user and a fire user.

Using her speed and agility to continuously move around her opponent's strikes she moved under his arm and slid a blade between his ribs and with a twist the other blade went into his neck. Pulling both blades out she pushed him forward and turned towards the other battle going on.

Her uncle was handling himself just fine against the last two opponents, but now she was free to help.

The only issue in this situation was that neither her or her uncle were necessarily the best to fight against a fire user. Both of them had wind as their primary nature which was weak against fire. On the other hand, Shizuka had lightning which was strong against Earth, and she was sure her uncle could find a way around the chakra nature disadvantage issue.

The decision was taken from her hands as her uncle caught the fire user with a strong gust of wind towards the trees, and hence towards where she stood.

Not one to waste an opportunity, Shizuka launched her shadow to pierce the man's heart and lung.

As the now dead ninjutsu user fell to the ground, his last standing comrade, the Earth user, stood between Shizuka and her uncle. Sending a pointed look at her uncle, Shizuka launched forward towards the last enemy nin, her shadows already stretching to full range of seven metres.

The woman started on the handsigns for an Earth wave, probably to stop the young Nara's momentum and give her time to retreat, or better, escape. Shizuka counted the seconds between the waves of Earth that were meant to throw her off balance and continues forward, her opponent continuing their retreat.

The woman had become too preoccupied with keeping Shizuka's shadows away and thus had forgotten Daichi, who had jumped into the trees and sent his shadow around to capture the woman from behind.

" _ **Raiton Dan: Ibuki!"**_ Shizuka flew through the handsigns before releasing what looked like a little ball of lightning towards her captured opponent. ( _Lightning Release Bullet: Powerful Breath_ )

"That is new." Daich deadpanned as he released the jutsu and jumped to the electrocuted woman's side. "Kakashi-san taught you?"

"Hai! Well more like he showed me how to do three reasonably strong jutsus, gave a warning on safety, 'supervised' it for a few months and then said I'd be fine training on my own." Shizuka shrugged. "It took me a year to actually get it this consistent."

"Well, you never made it easy for yourself with the number of projects you took on." Daichi bent down to shuffle through the contents of the woman's pouches. "In any case, it's a nice trump card to pull out."

"Hai. Hey, did you notice the sparks in spreading out of the bullet?" Shizuka asked as she did the same on the other fallen shinobi, her uncle only answered with a hum, "Do you think it's possible to discharge lightning around you, like a little field to throw people out of your range?"

"Possibly, but I'm the wrong person to ask. Find Kakashi and ask him." Daichi stood with a few scrolls in his hands. "Why would you want that anyway? You have a close range style so you want your opponents inside that, and as a Nara, they will already be avoiding getting in too close."

"Well, more like a faster way of eliminating enemies and getting time to retreat if I need." Shizuka explained as she made a pile of weaponry and scrolls to seal separately from the body.

"You'd probably have to be careful., being in the middle of a charged field of lightning can't be easy."

"Yes, Tō-San has drilled the 'think and plan before experimenting' process into my mind. No more improvisation, I promise." Shizuka moved out of her uncle's way as he moved to seal the body into a scroll to return to the village.

"Good. Now let's go back home." Daichi put the scrolls away and launched into the trees with Shizuka right behind him.

* * *

"To the newest Tokubetsu Jōnin." Her family cheered as they clinked glasses the night after her return to the village.

"Can't believe you're ahead of us after a year barely taking missions." Masaru grouched from his position next to her in the large dining room in her house.

They rarely ate there as they almost never had more people than their usual table between the kitchen and living room. This time she had the adult and baby Ino-Shika-Chō as well as the latter's wives and her team.

"Well, we haven't specialised, so it's regular grinding until we get the required nominations," Kaito answered for her as she chewed on a dumpling her aunt had made for the dinner.

"You boys are on your way, you will catch up, maybe even get the Jōnin promotion before her." Kouta teased as he turned from his conversation with Daichi.

"Shika, what do you think?" Shizuka nudged her brother who was nearly falling asleep at her side. "Will I or the boys reach Jōnin first?"

"The boys, you'll get distracted at some point and they'll catch up."

"Oi! You're supposed to be on my side." She gave his shoulder a pinch, and Ino having caught the end of the conversation pinched his other shoulder.

"Don't worry Shizuka-Nee, I'm on your side!" Ino grinned and they high-fived over her brother's head.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru slumped and then looked across the table at Chōji, "And you, will you also turn on me in favour of my sister?"

"Hai, Shizuka-Nee will beat them." Chōji smiled and his cheeks turned pink when Shizuka grinned back at him.

"I find it adorable that you have your own little cheer squad." Kaito snorted at the group. "Does this promotion cause anything to change in regard to team four?"

"Not really, I'm just listed as a specialised shinobi, so if they need a sensor or tracker my name will be 'highlighted' as in it's a good fit for my specific skills."

"If anything, she will be doing fewer rotations in some positions such as guarding the gates but will likely be given more patrols and scouting." Shikaku pitched in.

With that comment, the conversations drifted into other matters such as plans for a new training schedule, the academy and other trivial topics.

Once the guests had left Shizuka said goodnight to her parents and ruffled her brother's hair, promising him a shogi match the following day before heading to her room. With one last look at the scroll confirming her promotion, she fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Reply to comment:**

 **Candice**

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 **Yess… Poor Itachi. Again you'll have to wait to find out more! :D**

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	26. Things Change

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 26 - Things Change**

"Well done, everyone. We are off duty until called back, so take tomorrow off and we'll meet in the team's bunker at dawn the following day to hand in our written reports." Her team captain dismissed the other two team members before gesturing for her to follow him.

She followed silently behind him as they weaved through the hallways and up into the Hokage building. No sooner had they reached the door they were ushered inside.

"Report." The Hokage's stern voice called out once both kneeled in front of his desk.

"The mission went smoothly; the target has been eliminated and the court has no idea of Konoha's nor client's involvement." Shizuka glanced to her captain slightly as he reached for the scroll they retrieved from the target's office. "We also obtained these from the office, the information might prove useful."

Glancing up at the Hokage, she stood once the man gestured for them to do so, and her team leader handed over the scroll.

"And the new recruit?" The voice sounded from behind the Hokage's shoulder.

The ANBU commander's mask depicted a dog with pointed ears and a purple triangle on his forehead and each cheek. Even though simple, there was something about the white mask with the empty eyeholes and parted maw that made it an eerie sight.

' _Of all the masks I had to get the least threatening looking…'_ Shizuka mentally sulked while her eyes stared straight at the two shinobi before her.

"… performed admirably throughout the mission. I believe the rookie will prove to be invaluable in future missions."

"Then I believe all is set for officialising your status as a Konoha ANBU." The Hokage reached behind to Jackal to pass on a red and black scroll and signed the document before handing it to Cat-Taichō and finally extending the pen towards her.

Quickly signing her name and closing the scroll she returned it to Jackal who tipped his head in acknowledgement.

"Welcome to the force. Cat will inform you of everything you need to know."

"You are dismissed." The Hokage nodded at the other two ANBU before him who quickly disappeared in puffs of smoke.

They reappeared back into the rooms under the Hokage building.

"Come, I'll show you the team's bunker." Cat-Taichō called as he started walking down the tunnels. "We all have beds in the bunker to crash after missions or between shifts, there is an attached bathroom and is kept stocked with standard provisions."

As they turned the last corner the man gestured to a small and pretty bare kitchen. It had a stove that looked entirely unused, a fridge, a microwave and cupboards. It also had some stools around the island counter.

"The cupboards are always pretty empty with the exception of ration bars, feel free to stock up from there." Cat's voice was deep and monotonic, but not cold or uncaring.

"Here it is, in here feel free to remove your mask, it's not uncommon for your base team to know your identity." He explained as he followed her into the small bunk room. "Base teams usually have six members, but ours only has five now that you've joined."

Shizuka hummed as she unclipped the mask from her face and attached it to her belt, rubbing her gloved hand across her face as she yawned. She easily looked over the three bunk beds and quickly claimed the top bunk closes to the door once confirming none of the others had done so.

She glanced over her captain now that he had removed his mask. The man had pale skin, short light brown hair and dark eyes.

"While out of missions and in here you may call me Tenzō. I'm sure the other three will introduce themselves when we meet up, so I'll leave that to them. You already know which training ground we usually meet and times. You will receive your personal rotation then too. You'll have to do some time in all positions before getting slotted to one, I'd assume you'll be getting patrols due to your specialisation, but do expect guard duty at Intel, T&I and outposts."

"Hai, thank you, Tenzō-Taichō. You may call me Shizuka too." Shizuka sent the man a smile, "What about missions with other teams?"

"For now, you shouldn't be pushed into those, at least until you've done a rotation in all positions. But as a sensor that could change, and you might be called if no other sensors are available." Tenzō then pulled out a trunk from under the bed under hers. "This trunk is also yours, I recommend leaving something to sleep in, extra weapons, a mission pack, training clothes and regular clothes. It makes it easier when you have to leave last minute or go home in intact clothes."

"Ah, I have a couple things in a scroll that I can already leave here, thank you." Jumping down from the top bunk, Shizuka unsealed said items and started organising them into the trunk.

"I believe that is all so I will leave you to settle in. Welcome to the team. Have a good day." With a nod to her, he clipped his mask back into place and left the room.

Shizuka quickly finished putting one of the extra sets of clothes she carried in the trunk. With the other extra set in hand, she moved into the attached bathroom and got a folded towel from the sink.

As her body went through the motions of cleaning up, she reflected on what her entry to ANBU would now mean.

After a year as a Tokujō, she felt like joining ANBU would be a good step in her career. Her father, uncle and sensei agreed that she had a solid base of experience to draw on if she were to join, and after some more intensive training, she agreed to be tested.

After a month-long 'mission' she was given a mask and uniform and introduced to Cat-Taichō and his team: Ape, Stag and Bear. After two months of intensive training with them in the village, they were given an easy infiltration and assassination of a lord in a small nearby country as a final test. And now she gets to keep her mask and get the tattoo on her right shoulder.

After drying herself and tossing the used towel into the laundry basket in the corner she dressed in her usual clothes.

She left the zips of her grey skirt opened to mid-thigh revealing her black shorts underneath, she leaned down to strap a weapons pouch to her left leg and then attached a pouch to the back of her waist. For her top, she wore a mesh undershirt with a grey shirt with a green Nara symbol on her right shoulder.

Moving to the mirror she pulled her hair into its usual braid down her back and tied her headband across her forehead before heading back out and towards her trunk.

She unsealed her vest and in the same scroll sealed up her uniform.

' _I need to bring a set of sweatpants and a shirt to sleep, an extra pair of boots and a mission pack.'_ Glancing at her sole set of ANBU gear she sighed and added a trip to the equipment department to that list before she sealed up the dirty uniform to wash at home.

With an amused snort at her mask, she ran her finger across the small rounded ears and the brown lines leading from the outside of her eyes to her temples and the one line under each cheekbone that curled and stretched to end just below the other two.

" _No one will ever take me seriously with this, the boys would be hysterical if they found out."_

With everything in place, she pulled on the boots she had been wearing and her fingerless gloves. Finally, she attached the sheaths to her tantōs under the loose sleeves of her shirt.

'Now, where was the equipment department again?'

* * *

Once she finally left the dark hallways of the ANBU base she walked towards the Hokage tower in hopes of stealing her father's time for lunch. Taking two steps at a time, she quickly arrived at his office just as the door opened revealing her father and surrogate uncle.

"Tō-San, Inoichi-Oji-San!" Shizuka quickly gave her father a kiss on the cheek, and sent a smile at the Yamanaka, "Are you free for lunch, Tō-San? I just got back and I'm starving."

"I was just about to grab something quickly, but I can spare you some time." Shikaku smiled at his daughter, he hadn't seen her in almost two months, since she started training with her new team. "Dumping place?"

"Yes, please! Inoichi-Oji, will you be joining us?"

"Ah Sorry, Shizuka-Chan, I have a meeting to attend before I can go for lunch. But I do have a new task force for you, I'm just about to ask the Hokage for a preliminary report from the team sent out."

"Does it have anything to do with some interesting reports from politicians from the Southern borders?" Shizuka questioned her head tilting slightly to the side as she observed him carefully.

"Possibly, you'll just have to wait and find out." Inoichi shook his head, he wasn't exactly surprised she had been on the team that gathered the information. He knew from Shikaku's vague answers as to what she was up to recently that she was likely being tested for ANBU. "You don't happen to be signed up for any regular duties, do you?"

"Is that a way of implying I should spend my time in the village with a part-time rotation at Intel?" At her uncle's lips twitching into a smile, she shrugged, "No training outside of the new team so I suppose I might have some time for at least a part-time, I'll come in confirm tomorrow afternoon if you're free?"

"Perfect, I'll make some time to fill you in on the full task force as well. Hope you have space on the wall."

With a final wave at him, Shizuka linked her arm with her father's and all but dragged him to the dumpling restaurant.

"So, a successful mission?" Shikaku asked as he followed his daughter to her favourite dumpling place.

"Hai, my rotation should start sometime this week." She glanced up at her father with a teasing glint in her eyes, "Should I tell you my mask or do you want to figure it out on your own?"

"Not even a day in and already spilling your mask?"

"You'd probably tell it was me the moment you saw me, no point in delaying."

"Give me time, if you're doing your job right I might actually not _see_ your mask anytime soon." Shikaku smirked at his daughter who just huffed and pinched the arm she was holding onto.

* * *

The next morning Shizuka woke up to the sun shining on her face, an odd feeling as she was usually required to wake up before dawn for training or because she was on a mission.

Heading downstairs she found her mother washing the dishes from breakfast, a small plate of food separated for her at her usual seat.

"Good morning, Ka-san." She grinned as Yoshino spun around swinging the spatula she was cleaning wildly and sending droplets of water everywhere. "Sorry, its second nature now to make no noise."

"Good morning, darling. That's alright, just remember to switch off those instincts at home, your father is bad enough."

"He still tries to do it when coming home late?"

"Especially after a night out drinking with Chōza and Inoichi." Her mother shook her head and returned to cleaning the dishes. "Do you have any dirty laundry from your mission? I was planning on doing the laundry this morning before heading to the Yamanaka's for tea."

"I'll be sure to put them in my basket before heading out, thank you." Shizuka sat down and started on her breakfast while also reading what she had already written for her report of the mission.

"So, will we be seeing you more now that the initiation process is out of the way?" Her mother's tone was light, but she knew her mom enough to know that she was the one who expressed the most concern about her joining ANBU.

"Hai, I should be slotted to regular rotations and while on standby for the squad. Once that is complete then I'll be taking more missions both with my team and others."

Her mother hummed in acknowledgement and turned the water tap off.

"I'll be in the garden, please wash the dishes when you're done and don't forget the laundry. Why don't you meet up with Shika after the academy? I'm sure he misses you too." She walked over and kissed her daughter's head. "Have a good day!"

"Sure! It'll be nice to see them all. Have a good day!"

For the next hour she focused on her report and once she finished adding the last notes to it she stood to wash the dishes.

' _It's just past twelve, team four should be having their usual training session right about now.'_ Shizuka went back to her room and quickly put on her usual clothes and dropped off the dirty laundry in the basket of the bathroom she shared with Shikamaru.

Once leaving the compound she walked calmly towards the training ground team four usually trained at. It was still early, and they probably hadn't decided to head out for their customary weekly lunch.

As she approached she started sensing Masaru and Kaito's spar and the other chakra present was still and relaxed, easily identifying the signature as Kouta-sensei's Shizuka grinned and walked faster just in time to see a fireball dissipating and Masaru getting his legs knocked out from under him by Kaito's sweeping kick.

"Seems like I've missed quite a bit! Kaito you are learning genjutsu now too?" Shizuka called out as she Kaito helped Masaru up, the boys immediately grinning up at her appearance.

"Zuka! Where have you been!" Masaru grinned as he approached with Kaito. Judging by the way his clothes were covered in dirt and his general appearance she could tell they had just had an intense sparring session.

"Sorry boys, I've been on a long-term mission."

"Of course you noticed the genjutsu. Yeah, I've decided to learn more about it. Masa is a surprisingly deep fountain of knowledge in the area."

"Hey! Surprising?!" Masaru gave Kaito's shoulder a punch. "Seriously, Zuka, it's been what two months since we last saw you?"

"Give or take." Shizuka glanced at their Sensei who had kept quiet from his perch on the boulder they usually met at.

"A successful mission, I assume?" Kouta joined his former students on the ground.

"Hai." Shizuka grinned, they ignored the questioning looks from the other two, but they knew better than to ask, so the topic quickly changed.

"So, Sensei, now that you've seen my new tricks do you think I'm ready for the ANBU entrance test?"

"Maybe. We should probably polish the other non-combat related skills before making that decision."

"What does it entail exactly anyway?" Masaru piped up causing Shizuka to raise her eyebrows, "I'm not interested, but I'm curious to know."

"You'll go through several drills, sparring, protocol testing…" Kouta listed off as the group moved to the shade of the boulder. "You should be able to pass, but you need to be sure you're ready."

"What type of drills? Like the one you've been doing with us?" Kaito prodded as the team moved slowly to the shades of the nearby trees.

"Drills are broken into categories and then move on to grouped knowledge. Chase simulation, hunting simulation, battle, elimination…" Shizuka explained further, this time it was her teammates who raised their eyebrows in surprise. In response, Shizuka smirked and tilted her head, her tone taking on a teasing lilt. "I had to go through all that training too, _remember_?"

There was a brief moment of silence before Kaito's eyes widened and he nodded in understanding.

' _And, Kaito has figured it out. Masa…"_ Shizuka watched her other teammate for a moment before smirking. ' _Ah, there it is.'_

Now that her team was aware of her newest position, she wouldn't have to worry about excusing her absence as much. She glanced around the clearing taking note of burnt patches of grass before she turned back to Kaito.

"Kaito, I learnt the water bullet! It's been a year since you showed it to me. And it takes so much concentration!" Shizuka pouted, "I was lucky there was a pond nearby, have I ever said how much I hate fireballs?"

"Only every time we've been on the receiving end of them. Which will increase now, because I have learnt it." Masaru teased reaching over to tug the end of Shizuka's braid.

"Two fire users? I'm doomed." Shizuka sighed dramatically.

"Forgetting your poor old Sensei already? Make that three."

"Ganging up on me, are you? Well, next time we spar be on the lookout for slightly overcharged lightning whips. I might or might not have the control over them perfected and thus the shock might hurt more than what I intend."

"Li-Lightning whips? Who the hell taught you that?" Masaru's eyes widened and Kaito subtly took a step away from their shortest member.

"I have new sparring partners." Shizuka grinned cheerfully.

"Are you joining us for lunch or are you needed elsewhere?" Kouta-sensei spoke up from where he observed his students, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"I can't sorry. I have a meeting with Inoichi-Oji! I should be free tomorrow, how about a late lunch?"

"Sure, the curry place?" Kaito suggested and received nods of confirmation from everyone.

"It's a plan then, see you all tomorrow." Shizuka offered her fists for their customary three-way fist bump before waving the group off and heading to the Intelligence building.

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Any guesses on what her mask and codename are? The answer will be revealed soon XD**

 **Reply to guest comment:**

 **Candice:**

 **Hi again! Your comments always make me smile! I love hearing from the readers and it makes me happy to know you are enjoying the story!**

 **Yeah, the time skips are mainly to show snapshots of her life before the show's timeline starts for real. I can't wait to start on that part, but there are a couple more chapters until that starts for real. Though I can officially say romance is coming. XD And we will be seeing how much characters improved as we go along as well as the changing relationships.**

 **Thanks again for the comment!**


	27. Growing Up

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Just one or two more chapters until the original storyline starts popping through! Which hopefully means some of my former decisions will start making sense and some ripples will shine through (hopefully)!**

 **Thanks for reading! And I hope you enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 27 - Growing Up**

"We're back." Shizuka called as she entered the hotel room followed by Hayate. "For the price these mercenaries are being paid they really don't measure up."

"They have quantity over quality. Their numbers are what will cause us problems, we need to plan carefully." Hayate coughed as he moved over to the table where there other two teammates were writing notes and started doing the same.

"Any idea where the money is actually coming from? No way is a pottery company _that_ well off." Shizuka grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen and jotted down some quick observations before moving to the board they had set up in the room she was sharing with the other kunoichi of the team Yūgao.

"There is absolutely nothing tracing back to them, but I'd guess drugs, it would be easy to smuggle inside the decorations and pots." Genma suggested as the senbon in his mouth twitched, "Wouldn't be the weirdest way we've seen drugs and poisons distributed."

Shizuka didn't even turn to look at the man, instead just threw the pen she was using at his head letting out a satisfied snort as she heard it impact his head.

"Oi! Since when is your aim that good?"

"Hey! My aim was never bad! Besides it's been what, five years since the last mission we were on together? I was still a _Genin_ then I'm the same rank as you now!"

"Five!? Already!?"

She glanced over her shoulders to watch Genma doing some form of calculation with his fingers and rolled her eyes moving towards the table to pick up the notes her teammates wrote and completely ignored Yūgao's amused expression.

She had been on a couple of ANBU rotations with the woman and even sparred together a couple of times when they ran into each other in the training rooms reserved for ANBU. While she wasn't in her base team, they shared a couple of patrol rotations making Shizuka reasonably familiar with the woman's chakra signature and her distinctive purple hair just confirmed her theory. Judging by the woman's amused expression when she found out they were going on this mission together she probably knew her too.

"Alright, so we have more incriminating information regarding the truck company and more evidence to ties to the local rogue group that has been meddling with the local court." She felt her teammates move to her back as she continued attaching the information and linking them with the colourful strings.

"Genma will sneak into offices of the merchant build tonight while you and Yūgao infiltrate the warehouse. I'll be your lookout outside in case anyone approaches." Hayate moved towards the plans they had collected earlier of the warehouse, "This is supposed to be the updated floor plan, but keep an eye out for anything that doesn't match up."

"Shizuka did you get an estimate on numbers?" Yūgao questioned as she too looked over the floorplan.

"Well, there are enough that it's hard for me to distinguish between them as they aren't familiar to me. However, there are around twenty shinobi in the warehouse, the majority range from Genin to Chūnin with one or two stronger signatures. The other thirty or so are civilian level thugs."

"Alright, we proceed with caution. Shizuka I assume your summons know what to do if we find ourselves in a bind?"

Shizuka nodded before glancing at the clock.

"Who's coming to buy dinner?"

"Genma can go, he already knows what we like." Yūgao quickly offered with a sweet smile towards the younger girl who just narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Won't you go Genma?"

"Hai, just you two stay out of the other room." Genma teased as he put away his senbon and walked towards the door.

"I have to stay in this room too!" Shizuka complained as she followed the brown-haired man who just smirked at her over his shoulder in response.

The pair walked out of the inn and made their way to the bustling centre of town.

"And to think last time we were on a mission you would look too suspicious in the night scene." Genma teased as they navigated through the small crowd of people heading to the nightlife.

"Technically it's still weird as I'm only sixteen."

"A little makeup and heels and you could possibly claim being eighteen." Genma retorted glancing down at the teen. "It's useful for infiltration, allows for a wider range of characters."

"Uh… thanks, I guess?"

Genma chuckled and held the door of a curry restaurant open for her to enter ahead of him. There were a couple of patrons waiting to order so Shizuka took the opportunity to get them the menus while Genma kept their place in line.

"I can't believe it's been five years since I was last on a mission with you." Genma commented as he read his menu. "Now that I think about it I've barely seen you around the village since you made Chūnin."

"After I made Chūnin I fell into a harsh training schedule and then got trapped at Intel with some task forces for about a year. I've been back to normal duties since my promotion just over a year ago."

"In that case, I've just been lucky to not get assigned a mission with you." Genma teased, his eyes raising to see her glare over the top of her menu. "Well, you have to admit the mission I did have with you was quite… _troublesome_."

Shizuka took a deep breath to avoid punching the man and instead just swatted at him with her menu.

"It was a _flower!_ Will no one ever forget this story?"

"Nope." Genma put the menu on an empty table and glanced back at Shizuka who was still scanning the page. "Choose option three, it's the one Hayate and I had a couple of days ago."

"Fine, I'll trust you." Shizuka sighed and put the menu down. "How did you meet Hayate and Yūgao? You all seem quite close."

"Hayate graduated the same year I did and we both favour weaponry so we used to train together a lot. I met Yūgao through him, but I've been on several missions with her since then."

"Good evening, what can I get you two?" The woman at the counter smiled at the pair.

"Two option three's, one option five and one option seven. And a side of vegetable dumplings. It's all for takeaway." Genma ordered as Shizuka handed over the money they were given for their mission with a raised eyebrow at the additional order.

"You always order dumplings." Genma shrugged as they received the change and stepped to the side to wait for their order. "So, how is that team of yours?"

"We're all Chūnin now and the boys are training for a Jōnin promotion. Kouta-Sensei still trains us, though he's been on a lot of missions recently too."

"Can't wait to see for myself how much you improved." Genma grinned as their order was called.

Shizuka grabbed one of the bags and they walked back to the inn in a comfortable silence.

* * *

Later that night Yūgao and Shizuka were geared up and ready to head into the warehouse while Hayate kept watch from a nearby tree.

Exchanging quick handsigns with their lookout, the two kunoichis exchanged a look before Shizuka dashed around the building to crouch under the first window.

A quick check confirmed the room was empty and by using her shadows to cover her she travelled through them inside. Taking a moment to brush off the creeping cold of the shadows, she then stretched her senses she easily located Yūgao's signature on the other side of the warehouse.

By monitoring the immediate area around her, Shizuka managed to avoid contact with any of the mercenaries and judging by the lack of disturbances from Yūgao's side she assumed there had been no issues there either.

The objective for the night was to obtain official documents with records of criminal activity to justify a takedown as well as getting a feel for the interior and a better estimate on their numbers.

Shizuka entered an empty storage room and a few steps into the room until a feeling made her stop. Looking down at her black sandals she swiped her leg from side to side in front of her.

' _Now, what do we have here…'_ Shizuka crouched on the floor and reaching out to the seam of the wall and floor, tracing her fingers along until she felt a gust of cold air. ' _Hidden room? No latch that I can see.'_

Standing back up she ran her hand down the wall searching for anything to open the door keeping her from whatever was inside. With no success, Shizuka spread her senses again.

' _Damn, whatever this wall is made out its a blocking material… Guess we'll have to have a look later.'_

With a frustrated sigh Shizuka decided to move along, she didn't have time to investigate as she still hadn't finished her job of scouting her side of the warehouse.

Keeping track of each new signature she passed by Shizuka snuck through the halls until she entered the main deposit of goods. Taking advantage of the long shadows cast by the rows of stacked boxes, she easily weaved through the room until she found the back office.

Gathering her shadows and slipping into the locked office she quickly shuffled through the papers on the desk before moving to the shelves of scrolls and books.

' _Transaction logs, shipment details…'_ Holding back a sigh at the boring information the Nara moved to a different shelf. _'Contacts, nice!'_

Taking a moment to memorise the information and catalogue where everything was in the room she moved on to the desk drawers.

She took a moment to stretch her senses to find Yūgao still in her area and ensure there were no disturbances, satisfied that she was on time and nothing seemed disturbed she continued her search.

As she finished the search of the office she had to hold back a groan of disappointment. Nothing she had read had any new information other than maybe more updated logs and shipment as well as dates for future stocks.

For the takedown to be successful she needed more information on the mercenaries, the best place to get that: the leader. She left the office and huddled between to stacks of boxes, quickly summoning a racoon.

"Kei, find Yūgao, tell her I'm getting information from the leader then find Hayate outside and let him know too." Shizuka crouched so that the summon wouldn't have to look up. "Hallways are empty, but stick to the shadows."

"Hai, Shizuka-chan." Kei wasn't her smallest summon, but her head was the size of Shizuka's hand, making her small compared to some of her siblings.

Kei's fur had darker tones than some of the other summons and coupled with her size she was Shizuka's favoured summon for sneaking around. Shizuka had spent months training her summons how to suppress chakra, hide and a number of skills that were useful for furry creatures were somewhat clumsy yet their sharp minds were what made them a good match for Shizuka and her own skills.

Once her summon disappeared in Yūgao's direction, Shizuka spread her senses and sought out the strongest signature she could find amongst the mercenaries. With a location in mind, she easily weaved through the hallways until she came across one of the bunk rooms.

' _Five people inside. Strongest signature is furthest from the door.'_ Shizuka focused on the shadows once more. Moments like these she would really appreciate having stronger genjutsus in her arsenal, but she just wasn't the genjutsu type.

Once she was ready, she tugged at the shadows and reappeared under the target's bunk. Sliding from under the bed with a poisoned senbon at the ready to launch at all the occupants of the room.

The Nara observed her target and noticed the scratched Grass headband around his bicep, the sword propped against the bed and the bag at the foot of the bed. There was only one scroll in the bag along with spare clothes, thus making her job slightly easier.

She opened the scroll and scanned its contents, finding only coded orders. Stuffing the scroll back into place she returned the bag to the bed and quickly took to the shadows to return to the corridor.

As soon as she was in the dimly lit hallway she checked up on Yūgao's position and found her to be retreating to the exit point.

' _Time's up then.'_ Shizuka proceeded to run towards her exit point, sighing as she had to duck into a storage closet to escape the switching of guards.

Even with small delays of switching directions and taking a less direct path, she reached the location she entered from rather quickly. By the time she reached Hayate's position Yūgao was already there and they were both observing the warehouse as the guards changed.

"All set here." Shizuka whispered as she landed beside them.

"Let's return then." Hayate stood from his crouched position and the trio began the short run back towards the inn in silence.

"Genma's back already." Shizuka commented as they slipped through a window on their floor. "Tell him to write down what he found, I'll add everything when we meet up."

"I will. Get some rest. Tomorrow we plan for the takedown." Hayate coughed as he opened the door to his room.

"Hai." Both women nodded and proceeded to their room.

"You can have the bathroom first, I have some things to write down." Shizuka nodded towards the bathroom attached to their room.

"Thank you. I'll write my findings after I'm done." Yūgao grabbed a few things from her pack before moving to the bathroom

Shizuka hummed as she settled at the table, pen and paper already in hand. When the older kunoichi returned to the room it was only to see Shizuka scribbling notes as if her life depended on it. With an amused smile, she settled opposite the younger girl and started on her own notes at a much less enthusiastic rate.

* * *

The next day the group didn't leave the inn until it was time to enact their plan. The objective was to wipe out the mercenaries and do a cleanup of the building in hopes of finding any information about the person leading the operation.

"Shizuka, Yūgao head inside, take each room, no bodies in sight. Shizuka we'll bring the leader in for questioning." Hayate whispered his orders as they approached the warehouse.

Hayate and Genma split off from them to handle the guards leaving clones to hold up appearances in case anyone looked out the window. They didn't have any sensors amongst their ranks which ensured their ruse wouldn't be spotted easily.

The women sneaked inside through the same locations they had the previous night. Shizuka located the leader first in an office close to the room he had slept in.

From outside the office door, she snuck her shadow through the crack under the door and landed behind the rogue's back, easily jamming a senbon coated in paralytic to his pressure point. Ensuring he was out she summoned a large racoon to keep watch while she proceeded to the first bunkroom she could find.

Several beds were empty despite having clearly been slept in, meaning there were mercenaries awake somewhere in the warehouse. She located the concentration of chakra in the main deposit as the team had predicted, which meant they were still on track for plan A.

As she left one of the bunk rooms she found Genma eliminating one man in the corridor. With a nod, she held the door open for her comrade to drop the body on one of the beds.

'Corridor clear.' Genma signed quickly in the Konoha standard and Shizuka nodded in understanding before she signed her response.

'Proceed to main deposit. Enemy concentration.'

The pair ran through the corridors ensuring no shinobi slipped past their screening. For the last few bunks, they encountered they found some enemies awake and getting ready for their duties.

Shizuka slipped her shadows into the rooms capturing them and using a tendril to ensure they wouldn't make a sound as Genma opened the door and quickly dispatched them with perfectly aimed projectiles.

As they cleared the last room before they reached the shared a look before they broke apart again. Shizuka was to find another way in to ensure they had the enemies surrounded while Genma would sneak into the side door while Hayate and Yūgao would enter through the main door.

Shizuka quickly found the back exit of the warehouse and scaling up the building she also found the vents.

' _Ah, the advantages of being small.'_ With a sigh, she lowered herself into the vents and crawled through the narrow passageways until she found herself just above the deposit. _'I'm glad we found the ventilation maps, navigating these are a pain.'_

From her position she could clearly see the closed main doors as well as the side door. She could sense their presence their presence behind the doors and they seemed ready to launch their assault at her signal.

Before that, her eyes focused on the thirty or so mercenaries below. They were moving boxes around, putting them in different piles and checking their contents. Off to one side she could see a cart full of what looked to be pills.

' _Found the drugs.'_ She glanced around ensuring no one was suspicious of what was happening. _'Kami, these mercenaries suck.'_

"Those are going to the boss, put them in the Kisaragi load." A woman called as she flipped some papers on her clipboard and tapped on a couple of medium sized crates. "You know the drill, last to load and splintered corner."

' _Interesting, marking that one box amongst an entire shipment. Maybe they plan to have it 'stolen' as a way of avoiding paper trails to their boss.'_ Shizuka followed the woman and singled her out. _'Might be a good one to capture.'_

Another glance around satisfied Shizuka about their ignorance she prepared to drop in, knowing the sound would cause the others to enter. With a quick elbow to the flap under her, she launched into the room.

Launching a projectile as she dropped down and landing in a crouch. She sighed as some the mercenaries were at least quick to react, their hands flying to grip any weapons they could find or to jump behind some crates for cover.

She barely noticed the sounds of the other three launching into the room engaging any enemy they came across. They might have the disadvantage of numbers but these mercenaries were Chūnin level at most, their leader could maybe claim Jōnin if he was slightly more aware of his environment.

Shizuka quickly drew her tantōs and dashed forward, intent on reaching the woman and capturing at least her for questioning. Said woman launched a flurry of projectiles at the Nara who knocked them off course with her tantōs.

As the fight was contained to the main deposit full of unknown goods they really couldn't risk using much ninjutsu unless they were confident they had full control.

Grunting as she was forced to block to different opponents on either side of her. She allowed the two men to push her arms closer to each other as she leaned backwards. Just as her arms were about to cross she disengaged her blades and launched into a back handspring, her opponents having had most of their weight pressed into their blades stumbled forward and knocked into each other.

Just as she reached an acceptable distance Shizuka body flickered back to the two and slid her tantōs between their ribs all the way before sliding them back and continuing towards the woman that now had a wary look in her eyes.

Turned out she didn't even have to engage the woman as Genma body flickered behind her and slid a senbon into her pressure point.

"Too slow." He lowered the woman to the ground and grinned up at Shizuka. "Think she has some info for us?"

"Seemed to be in charge of the idiots here, so worth a try." Shrugging she turned around and blocked a few projectiles launched by an approaching group of mercenaries. "At least they think I'm skilled enough to warrant group attacks."

"Do people really underestimate you that much?" Genma asked as he stepped to her side, his head shaking slightly once Shizuka shrugged. "Clearly haven't realised the most dangerous opponents are the ones that look the least threatening."

Shizuka didn't bother to comment but let a smile slip as they launched into the fray together to dispatch the remaining mercenaries.

In the end, they hadn't found any worthy opponents, but none of them walked away scot-free. Even if the mercenaries didn't have the power to truly injure any of them, they all had some bruises from hits that were landed while their hands were occupied with another opponent or cuts from flying projectiles they couldn't dodge in time because of the same reason.

Shizuka could particularly feel her shoulders as most of her opponents had the advantage of brute strength against her. The Konoha shinobi met in the centre of the deposit after checking they had eliminated everyone.

"Shizuka, the leader?" Hayate wasted no time in calling for a check of the warehouse.

"Sleeping soundly with a summon as a guard, there is a woman over there that we also captured, she seemed to know what was happening around here." Shizuka nodded towards the side where the unconscious woman was.

"We'll check the bodies and seal them first. Then we can have a look at the strange alteration you found, then clean-up."

"Hai." The other three chorused and they split up to start on sealing the bodies into scrolls.

No words were exchanged as they cleared up the floor. It was a quick job as none of the mercenaries had anything interesting on their persons and everything was done rather quickly.

They proceeded to do the same for the bodies in the other areas of the warehouse before they regrouped to the place Shizuka had pointed out while they planned their attack.

The room Shizuka had found didn't have anything extraordinary there either. Inside there were three doors, one was a safe with some valuables and cash, one had drugs and the other revealed a medium room with several test tubes and shelves full of ingredients.

"Genma you check this room and seal what is safe, Shizuka you take the other two rooms. Yūgao and I will start on the rest of the warehouse." Hayate gave one glance around the room before he started back out to the corridor, Yūgao also poked her head in before patting Genma on the back and leaving.

"Have fun, I'll help if I finish first." Shizuka snickered as she entered the vault room first.

Sealing test tubes and experiments was always a tough job. Predicting how unknown mixtures would react to chakra was very hard to do and sealing those were jobs given to either poison experts who could figure out the mixture or fūinjutsu users who could write better seals than the average shinobi would possess.

As she expected she finished well before Genma who was halfway through the test tubes and vials. He didn't even look up from where he was testing one mixture for chakra reactions when he pointed to the ingredients displayed on the wall.

The rest of the afternoon was spent by gathering every scroll and paper they could find in the warehouse. They had ration bars for lunch as to not waste time going to town for food. By the time they finished all the cleaning up protocol the sky was already painted in the golden hues of the setting sun.

"Let's head back." Hayate coughed as they regrouped outside the main entrance of the hideout. "We'll collect our things from the inn and depart immediately towards Konoha. Shizuka, can one of your summons carry the prisoners?"

Shizuka nodded and summoned one of her larger summons to carry the two unconscious rogues.

Since none of them had serious injuries and had a relatively calm afternoon with just clean-up they agreed to leave as soon as they had everything packed. They had been away for just over three weeks and just wanted to get home.

* * *

The quartet took turns explaining their mission to Shikaku and Inoichi on their return. The two older Jōnin looked over the condensed mind map that had been unsealed on the table as the verbal report was given.

"Everything looks in order, I want the reports back by tomorrow afternoon." Shikaku looked up at the team and then at Inoichi to see if the man had anything to add.

"Shizuka a copy of this will be sent to your office at Intel, I'm sure you'd like to slot it into the rest of the case." Inoichi glanced over the team and sealed the mind map back into the scroll. "Thank you three for your help for this task force, I believe the next time you're called will be for the final takedown."

The team nodded in understanding took their leave, all four of them heading to the hospital to get checked out.

"Not bad, Shizuka-chan! Maybe that had been a one-off unlucky mission!" Genma teased as the quartet moved towards the hospital together.

"Nah, I think we got lucky with this one. The last two times I was partnered with her we had a couple of issues." Yūgao commented, easily dodging the younger girl's swipe at her arm. "We nearly got ambushed once and the other time the client ended up spilling he had hired shinobi so we got attacked before we had actually done any searching."

"It's not my fault some people are stupid." Shizuka huffed as Hayate and Genma laughed.

"Didn't know you two had been on missions together that often." Hayate looked between the two kunoichis, the younger of which just shrugged.

"Mainly the occasional patrol, we only had one proper mission together." Shizuka explained her eyes darting to Yūgao and then the two men.

"Ah, I see." Hayate paused to cough before a smirk bloomed on his face. "I just hope your bad luck doesn't influence any other mission we might have together."

"Guess you'll be getting a new nickname soon. Tiny just isn't threatening enough for your new rank." Genma gave her an appraising look.

' _If only you knew…'_ Shizuka sighed and gave a half-hearted glare at Yūgao who choked out a laugh she had been trying to suppress.

* * *

None of them had any serious wounds. A couple of cuts and bruises which were easily treated by the medics. They said goodbye as each signed out at the reception. As Shizuka grabbed her pack from the floor to leave she saw Kaito leaving too.

"Kaito, what brings you to the hospital?"

"Final checkup for my knee. I had busted my kneecap pretty badly in my last mission and it's been a pain, but I'm officially in the clear now." Kaito grinned as they walked out together. "You just got back from a mission, right?"

"Hai, pretty okay just an overwhelming amount of low-ranking enemy." Shizuka shrugged as she picked at her wrapped arms. "How's Masa been?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Oh, please. You two have grown much closer since we all became Chūnin."

Kaito stammered for a bit, a faint blush colouring his cheeks before he sighed in defeat, no way was he fooling Shizuka.

"He's been good, we're… Well, I don't know what we are."

"That's an easy fix, it's called talking. I thought you two were already doing that."

"Ha, ha. Has anyone ever told you that you're funny?" Kaito bumped his shoulder with hers. "And what about you, Zuka, anyone Masa and I should keep an eye out for?"

"Reiji asked me out, but we've been friends for too long. I went on a date with Genkei right before this mission too."

"Inuzuka Genkei the Chūnin? What of it?"

"Yeah, Hana introduced us a while ago. He's nice, but not my type." Shizuka glared at her teammate when he snorted.

"I'm sorry." He laughed for another moment before tugging at the end of her braid. "And what exactly is your type, Zuka?"

"Not boring."

"Right…" Kaito drawled as they turned the last corner before they had to part ways. "Alright then, I'll update Masa on 'your type' and we will find someone for you."

"No thank you." Shizuka pouted as Kaito just snickered again. "I'll see you around Kaito."

"See you, Zuka!"

With one last smile at her teammate, she proceeded down the road leading into the Nara compound. It was still fairly early in the afternoon, so she had hopes of finishing her report early and having a nap before dinner.

Those hopes went out the window as soon as she sensed her uncle's presence in the house, causing her to rush down the path offering rushed greeting to the clan members she passed.

"Daichi-Oji!" Shizuka tugged her boots off quickly and smiled broadly at her uncle who was sat writing a report at the kitchen table. "You're back early!"

"Zuka! I got lucky with my latest mission. So, I hear you have some news?" He looked pointedly at her shoulder and raised an eyebrow as she moved to pat the hidden ANBU tattoo.

"Ah yes, you're training really paid off." Shizuka moved in to hug him around his shoulders but was promptly stopped by him.

Daichi snickered at his niece's pout and shook his head before pointing up the stairs.

"No hugs until you've showered. I just cleaned up." Daichi let her arms go and stood from the table. "Your mom left some miso for you, so I'll heat that up while you get changed."

"Thank you! Has she gone out for tea?"

"Hai, she also needed to buy groceries and I think she was going to drag Shikamaru along to help."

"Shika dreads seeing her waiting for him at the academy, it normally means he's going to have to help carry things home."

"Sounds about right. Now off with you, you stink." Daichi pinched his nose and waved her off as he moved to the fridge to get her lunch ready.

Once she was ready she returned to the kitchen giving her uncle a kiss on the cheek as he passed her a bowl of miso soup.

"So have your ANBU contacts clued you in on my mask?" Shizuka questioned as she glanced up from her food. "Tō-san hasn't seen it yet, but the moment he does he'll know its me. I never realised how much of a sense of humour ANBU had."

"So they went with the ironic path with you?" Daichi snorted as he looked up from his report to see his niece's glare. "I don't know your mask, but I suppose I might find out soon."

"I'm pretty sure Kouta-sensei had a say in it. How do you pick the masks anyway?"

"Codenames often personality, generally from what is observed in the trials. Makes it easier to remember them not to mention it's sometimes funny."

"Mine is half true the other part is the opposite of what others would associate with me." Shizuka huffed as she pulled out a scroll with the beginnings of a report.

A comfortable silence fell between the pair as they focused on writing their reports and by the time they were finished Yoshino had returned with Shikamaru and had started cooking dinner, sending both of them out of the kitchen.

They sat on the outside porch and started a game of shogi, with Shikamaru eventually joining in and sitting next to his sister.

"So, Shika, you're set on taking you regular slotted graduation exam in a year?" Daichi questioned his nephew as he moved one of his pieces, his eyes straying momentarily to look at him before returning to the board.

"I'm definitely not taking any of the earlier ones. It's too much work."

"It's the same amount of work you'll have to do next year." Shizuka commented as her fingers hovered around some of her pieces.

"It's not like anyone expects me to either." Shikamaru shrugged as he leaned closer to the board, "Go with your first idea, it's the best plan."

Shizuka grinned and followed her brother's advice and sent a wink towards her uncle's annoyed glare

"It's not technically cheating if he offers advice so freely."

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to guest comments:**

 **Guest:**

 **Nope, not a mouse, but it was considered for a period of time, it would fit with her nickname 'tiny'. And deer was also considered, but there is already a stag on her team.**

 **Thank you for playing along! There are more hints in this chapter and no one has guessed it yet.**

 **Candice:**

 **Hey again!**

 **I've dropped more hints on her mask in this chapter, good luck with your guesses. No mission with ANBU this chapter but they will interact in the next one. Tenzō (aka Yamato) is Cat, Bear will also be a cannon character, so will Stag (although she only shows up once), but Ape will be original. However, we will see some canon characters interact with her in ANBU.**

 **Family is important to her, they are her safety net, her team is part of that family, so now that she has them she's not letting go.**

 **Thanks for the comments! I enjoy reading them :D**

 **xx**


	28. Family

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Just a notice that the next chapter will be the start of canon!**

 **Well done to Nella-mangalover93 for getting the mask right! Now don't go spilling the secret just yet XD. For people who haven't guessed, if you get it right, I will send a sneak peek of the following chapter. The answer will be revealed in chapter 31 (last weekend of March). You can also thank her for getting me to update a day earlier (only logged on here to answer her message XD)**

 **There is another hint in this chapter for the mask, so good luck to those who are trying. :D**

 **On another note, starting next chapter I will post a weekly question here. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but I do enjoy communicating with you readers, so I will be replying at the end of every chapter.**

 **Thanks! And Enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

Shizuka winced for the third time as her mother brushed out the last knot from her hair as they sat on her bed.

"Just half pinned up?" Her mother asked as she started partitioning strands of hair at her left temple.

"Hai, that would be perfect." Shizuka sighed as she let her mother braid a strand from each temple meeting at the back before twisting it into a bun and pinning it with a flower clip, letting the lower layers of her hair to tumble down her back in their usual waves.

"Do you plan on putting make-up?" Yoshino asked and snickered as she noticed her daughter's scrunched nose in the mirror across from the bed. "Just lipstick then?"

"Fine, but that is it." Shizuka huffed as her mother moved to her closet pulling out a dark green long sleeve dress. "Ah, that's a good choice. I haven't worn it yet."

"It's pretty." Yoshino threw the piece of clothing at her daughter who caught it with an amused expression. "Now finish getting ready, the boy should be arriving soon."

Shizuka chuckled as she moved to the closet to grab thin black tights and went to the bathroom. She slipped into the clothes being cautious of her hair and applied the light pink lipstick.

Despite it being far from her usual look Shizuka somewhat enjoyed dressing up occasionally. When all she ever did was related to her duties as a kunoichi it felt nice changing the style of her outfits. Or maybe that was Ino's influence.

' _Ino will be happy I'm wearing her gift, I might have to get a picture just to show that I tried.'_ With a sigh, she moved back to her room to grab a jacket for the chilly weather starting to fall over the Land of Fire.

Finally, she sensed her date's approach of the compound, knowing she had little time she threw what she needed into a small purse and slung that across her shoulder before heading to the entrance. She sat down to put her ankle boots and finished just as a knock sounded.

"Ka-San I'm heading out."

"Hai, have fun! Don't come home too late!"

Shaking her head at her mother's warning she opened the door to greet Hideyoshi.

"Shizuka-chan! You look great." Hideyoshi was tall and lean with shoulder-length dirty blond hair and shiny purple eyes. "Ready to go?"

"Hai." Shizuka smiled as she fell into step with the older boy. "How was your shift at the hospital?"

"Ah, an injured team of Chūnins arrived today from a mission. Nothing too serious thankfully, but there were numerous injuries. A couple of broken ribs, two concussions and some cuts and bruises."

"Ah, let me guess, they got caught on the wrong end of a wind jutsu?" Shizuka winced sympathetically at the list.

"Hai, how did you guess?"

"I have caused my fair share of damage with wind jutsus. I'm quite familiar with the results."

"Ah yes, I forget you are already a Tokujō." Hideyoshi scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "How has that been?"

"It hasn't changed much from Chūnin except I don't take mission desk or gate watch rotations. I've been pretty busy on some task forces with Intelligence."

"Do you have a favourite rotation? I prefer working in the physical therapy area of the hospital or even the clinic, but I have to assist in the emergency room occasionally."

"My rotation at intelligence is nice, there is always a case to look over, so there is always something to do. Out of the standard rotations I suppose border patrol is my favourite, you don't go far but the fresh air and silence are often refreshing from the bustling village."

Hideyoshi hummed as he tried to imagine the scene before glancing down at her shorter frame.

"You Nara really like the outdoors then, your compound is practically in a forest!"

"It's calming and peaceful we don't like conflict, but don't enjoy being cooped up for too long." Shizuka commented, letting the silence drift between them for a few minutes before they entered the restaurant.

Hideyoshi held the door open for her and they were quickly ushered to a small booth in the corner.

Dinner went by surprisingly quickly considering they talked mainly about their circle of friends, which didn't overlap at all, and what they did to fill their times outside of their job.

Hideyoshi nodded and hummed as she talked about her puzzles and she did the same as he told her about the times he's gone to different cities with his mother who owns a small clothing store in the centre of town.

At the end of the night Hideyoshi offered to pay for both of them and they left the restaurant walking at a slower pace now that they didn't need to be on time for their reservation. As soon as they reached the main road they stopped and faced each other, each preparing to go their own way.

"Goodnight, Shizuka-chan!" Hideyoshi tipped his head and smiled softly at her.

"Goodnight." With a wave she turned in the direction of the compound, only managing to take a few steps before she heard her name being called. "Huh?"

"Dressed up and in the market district at night. So, how was your date?" Genma asked as he matched his pace to hers.

"What makes you think it was a date?"

"If it was family you wouldn't be alone, and if it was a friend you wouldn't have put in the effort." He smirked down at her as she shook her head.

"It was alright, Hana has been on worse dates from what she's told me." Shizuka replied. "You know you're not half bad at deduction."

"Oi!" He huffed in mock offence causing both of them to chuckle. "Any news on the takedown of that illegal organisation from our mission with Hayate and Yūgao?"

"I'm supposed to have a meeting with Inoichi-Oji-San and Ibiki-San soon, we had a takedown for two separate task forces this month. I haven't even checked in on the prisoners we brought in." Shizuka replied as she thought back to the last mission they had together, "I'm fairly certain you'll be added to the team if you happen to be available."

"I'll look forward to it. As long as your luck doesn't make it all go up in flames." He snickered at her deadpan expression. "On another note, my _squad_ is down a sensor for a mission we have coming up and I was wondering if you wanted to fill in."

It didn't slip by her notice the way he emphasised squad. She gave him a questioning look for a moment before she replied.

"You'll have to ask my captain, but I've finished all the standard procedures." Her voice lowered so that only he would hear. "Why me? I'm sure there are more experienced sensors in the ranks."

"We need a wide range and Aoba sings you praises whenever you're brought up." Genma shrugged. "Besides Yūgao has been tight-lipped about your mask and I need to get you a new nickname."

"Fine, I'll let my taichō know." Shizuka sighed as they turned into the street of the compound. "Speaking of Aoba, is he in the village? There was something I needed his help with."

"He is today and tomorrow, though I believe he has a mission after and he'll be gone for a while. Is it to do with your sensory skill?"

"Well, kind of." Shizuka shook her head and looked up to see Genma's expectant gaze. "How much do you know about the Nara shadow techniques?"

"I've been on missions with some clan members before." Genma replied looking at the younger woman as she visibly tried collected her thoughts to formulate an explanation. "You're trying to combine them?"

"How did you-" Shizuka's eyes widened comically before she released a breath. "Yeah, we kind of feel the shadows to some extent, we know when they connect to someone, normally we can see who, but that isn't always the case."

"In the traditional formation you would have been paired with a frontline fighter to distract, you catch and someone else finishes. The famous Ino-Shika-Chō combo." Genma flicked the senbon in his mouth amusedly at her raised eyebrows, "You do know Chōza was my sensei when I was a Genin right? I've heard a _lot_ of stories."

"Right! Anyways, with my sensory technique, I can sense when people are captured. Kind of…" Shizuka frowned as she tried to explain, "Whenever shinobi react to anything our chakra imitates it. So if we suddenly panic because we got frozen in place…"

"Then your chakra would react accordingly."

"Exactly, but that's only when I actually connect. When I was training I figured out a way of predicting chakra natures based on the unique feel of every signature."

"Ambitious." Genma nodded as he nodded along with her explanation. "Judging by your expression it doesn't work that easily."

"I have to be close range and it sometimes takes a while. The more familiar I am with the signature the easier it is. But if I can use my shadows as a method of proximity…"

"Then you could get the information without having to come to close and getting noticed. I assume you have a way around the target freezing up?"

"We can control the movement allowed, we can do it so that it's connected but not restricted. Maybe even just touching not even fully connected."

" _Very_ ambitious." Genma chuckled as they passed through the gates to the Nara compound. "I wish you all the luck in figuring it out."

"You didn't have to walk past your house you know." Genma's eyes snapped down to look at her but she was looking ahead at her house.

"I was intrigued. Besides after a day of guard duty I needed an intelligent conversation."

"Thanks. I'll see you around, Genma." Shizuka waved at the man who then flicked his senbon back.

"See you around, Shizuka."

She watched as he made his way out of the compound and turned to enter her house a small smile dancing on her lips as she sat on the small step inside her house to remove her shoes. She glanced over her shoulder to see Shikamaru looking out the window facing the front of the house.

"How was the academy?" Shizuka stood with her shoes in hand to put them back into the closet in her room.

"That wasn't who you went on a date with." Her younger brother looked back at her with his head slightly tilted to the side in confusion. "Why didn't your _date_ walk you home?"

"He lives in a different direction, we walked together until we had to split." Shizuka tugged at her brother's hair as she walked past him. "Genma happens to live close by and we ran into each other, so we walked together."

"He walked you through the compound, and the closest residence block is before that on the street." Shikamaru slapped her hand away and followed her as she walked to her room.

"We were having a good conversation." She held a snort as her brother entered her room after her and sat at her desk. "Have you had a change of heart and decided to go into T&I? Your method wouldn't be effective with enemy shinobi."

"Nee-San…" Shikamaru scowled as his sister teased him. "How did you two meet."

"He accompanied team four when we were Genin. We also have some friends in common and he has been on a couple of missions with me since my Tokujō promotion." Shizuka replied as she moved to the bathroom to wash her face and change into pyjamas.

Shizuka snickered in amusement as her brother remained in her room as she left to do her nightly routine.

"He's a Jōnin? How old is he?" He asked as soon as she returned to her room.

"He's a Tokujō too, has been since I first met him. He's around twenty-four or twenty-five? I don't actually know when his birthday is."

"So you're not close?"

"Shika…" Shizuka laughed as she picked two books from the shelf in the corner and flicked through each one. "He's a friend, we have common interests and he's funny."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled as he slumped further into the chair at his sister's desk when she laughed more at his expense.

"It's sweet that you're looking out for me. Though it's really not necessary." Shizuka put one of the books back and moved towards him. She planted a kiss on his cheek before she moved to sit on her bed.

"Just wanted to know if I had to keep anything from Tō-San." The youngest Nara grumbled as he stood from his seat and made his way towards his own room. "Goodnight, Nee-San."

"Goodnight, otouto."

* * *

The next morning she slept in for a bit and missed her father and brother as they went out for the day. When she walked into the kitchen after getting dressed in her ANBU uniform and found her mother sitting at the kitchen table reading a book with a cup of tea in hand.

"Good morning, Ka-san." Shizuka leaned down and kissed her mom's cheek as she moved to the counter where the remains of breakfast were and quickly made herself a bowl of rice.

"Good morning. How was your date yesterday?"

"Hideyoshi is nice, but…"

"Too boring?" Shizuka glanced up from her food to narrow her eyes at her mother's smirk. "I heard he didn't walk you home. Your father wasn't too impressed."

"Damn, Shikamaru…" Shizuka sighed as she leaned her chin on her hand as she poked at rice in the bowl. "Yeah, he lives in the other direction and I ran into a friend who walked with me instead."

"Yes, someone called Genma?"

"Hai, a Tokujō, he's just a friend though! We were having a good conversation and so he ended up walking me here."

"So your brother said." Yoshino smiled as her daughter shook her head and continued eating. "Maybe you should go on a date with him instead."

"Ka-San!" Shizuka choked on her rice at her mother's answer who burst into laughter at the young girl's reaction. "Not funny…"

"You went so red!"

"I was choking!"

Yoshino stopped laughing and just watched her daughter continue eating in silence for a few moments.

"So, is he cute?"

"Okay, I'm leaving. Have a good day." Shizuka ate the remaining food quickly and jumped up from the table.

"Shizuka!" Yoshino chuckled and stood to lean on the counter beside the sink as her daughter started to wash the bowl she had used. "How did you meet?"

Shizuka gave her mom a considering glance before she sighed, propping the bowl on a rack to dry.

"I met him on a mission when I was still a Genin. He introduced me to Aoba-Senpai and Anko-Senpai too."

"Ah, so you have some friends in common."

"Hai, we've been on a couple of missions together lately. He's been put on standby for one of the task forces I've been working on."

Shizuka leaned on the counter beside her mother who hummed absently a small smile playing on her lip and a twinkle in her eyes.

"Alright, I need to go, I have training with the squad." Shizuka shook her head and stood up straight.

"Have a good day, darling." Her mother kissed her cheek before moving towards the back garden.

Shizuka went upstairs to grab her mask before she left towards the ANBU headquarters. Having become slightly more familiar with the layout of the base, she easily navigated through the corridors until she reached her team's bunkroom.

"Ah, you're here, good. We're only missing Stag." Tenzō greeted her from where he sat at the desk, a half-written report in front of him

"Well if it isn't our little lucky charm." Bear called as he tossed a ball against the wall and caught it as it bound off the wall.

"Hi, grizzly." Shizuka took her mask off and pinned it on her belt ducking the rubber ball that had been thrown at her head, letting it fly out the door. "You might want to go fetch that."

Raidō grumbled but did so, tugging the end of her braid as she climbed to sit on her bed.

"Shizuka-chan, I heard the most interesting rumour today." Naoki, the second youngest member of their team, teased as he leant over from his top bunk towards her. "You went on a date with Shiranui?"

Shizuka groaned and covered her head with the pillow, ignoring Raidō's questions and his pokes from the bed under hers.

"I went on a date with Hideyoshi a Chūnin medic and Genma happened to catch me on the way home. How do you all know this?"

"Shinobi are the worst gossips." Raidō supplied before he gave Shizuka's mattress one last poke. "So, Genma huh? Didn't know you were that close."

"Shut up, grizzly." Shizuka leant over her bed to glare down at the older Tokujō.

"You can tell me the truth, I won't tell him anything, I promise, ni-."

"Oh, are you asking her about her date with Hideyoshi?" Stag walked into the room, her mask already pinned to her waist. "Sorry I'm late, we had a last minute emergency at the hospital."

"No worries. We should get the training started though. On another note, I heard there's another person interested in joining and we still have a place on our team, so we might be called in for a test run soon."

Shizuka climbed down from her bunk and smiled at their team medic and only other female of the team.

"I'll tell you about the date later." Shizuka told her before she clipped her mask back into place.

"Let me guess, too boring for you?"

"I'm not even going to try to guess how you know that." Shizuka grumbled as she followed their captain ignoring the woman's chuckle and the sound of her team members high-fiving.

* * *

Shizuka groaned as the hot water hit her sore muscles. While training with her ANBU team was often brutal she couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of a good training session.

As a Genin and occasionally as a Chūnin after such a training session she would have gone home and possibly taken a nap or pestered a Nara clan member for a game of shogi. Unfortunately, as a Tokujō she had didn't have that luxury.

As soon as she was ready, she was supposed to head over to Intel and was due for a meeting with Inoichi and Ibiki about recent developments on a task force they had been working on.

She finished up quickly and dressed in her usual clothes before grabbing her bag of dirty laundry to take home. She used the administration building exit as it was closer to her destination and waved happily at Masaru who was on mission desk duty.

' _I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore.'_ Shizuka left the building and walked down the road and into the Intelligence building.

"Good afternoon, could you please let Inoichi-San and Ibiki-San that I'll be in my office for our meeting whenever they are available?" Shizuka smiled at the receptionist who greeted her with a smile and immediately paged them. "Thank you, have a good day!"

Once in her 'office', she dropped her bag under her desk and shuffled the papers on her desk to see if anything was relevant to go into the map. Once satisfied they were just reports, she started taking notes on the relevant points and attaching those to the correct places on the wall.

"I think the Chūnins outside got over their jealousy that you got an office because they glimpsed inside, and the mess terrified them." Inoichi's voice sounded as he knocked and entered the room with Ibiki right behind him.

"Inoichi-Oji-San, Ibiki-San, good afternoon." Shizuka grinned at her uncle and nodded politely at Ibiki who had moved towards her desk to look over the papers there.

"The mercenary leader revealed new warehouses and hideouts and the leaders of the operations at each base. He has never had contact with the actual person behind all of this." Ibiki went straight to the point once he had looked over the papers on her desk.

"So it was all done over a middle-man?" Shizuka hummed as she looked over the map. "We don't have any information of anyone higher than the mercenary leaders. What about the woman?"

"She had less information on the higher-ups, but she was in charge of managing the actual exchange of products, so we got a better idea of how they are doing it. We sent out a group to track, observe and capture the leader of the Kirasagi hideout." Inoichi supplied as stepped closer to the wall to read some of her notes.

"We have the centre of operations down, if we take that down it'll be easy to clean up the remaining threads, but we need to catch the middle-man if we want to get the mastermind behind it all." Ibiki concluded as he reached into his long coat in search of something.

"We should assume the middle-man is either well trained or has hired someone well trained for protection. Do we have any idea who it could be?" Shizuka reached for the piece of paper Ibiki had extended towards her. "Locations and contacts, wonderful."

She grabbed a pin from her pocket and pinned the sheet close to the map so that she could add strings later. Inoichi then continued relaying the information they had.

"We don't have a name only a codename. 'Naga'. Even if we don't take him or her down, we have enough to completely eliminate the drug and trafficking rings. While not ideal it would take years to re-establish them to this proportion."

"Alright, could you please pass me the full list from the interrogation? I can cross-reference with all the other information and hopefully by the time we organise the takedown I'll have a name." Shizuka turned to Ibiki who nodded.

"I have other prisoners to deal with today, but I can get it to you soon."

"Ah that's fine, I have to catch up on the other task force over there." Shizuka nodded towards her other wall with a sheepish grin. "When are we working on the takedown?"

"We can schedule a meeting with your father for an initial debrief immediately. It'll take us a month or more to get everything in order for an operation of this scale." Inoichi scratched his chin as he stepped away from where he had been reading and turned to the other two occupants of the room.

"I can let my father know later today that we need to schedule a meeting fo-." She was interrupted by the feeling of a familiar chakra signature approaching. "Or we could just tell him now. Come in!"

Her father opened the door before he even had the opportunity to knock and walked inside greeting Inoichi and Ibiki with nods.

"Tell me what?"

"We believe we can move in for the final takedown of the illegal drug and human trafficking ring in the land of fire." Ibiki answered as he gestured to the map behind him.

"We have all locations, names, foreign contacts, numbers and all that." Shizuka completed as she stepped away from the wall so that her father could have a look at the new information.

"I'll have my secretary schedule a meeting tomorrow after lunch if you're all free?" Shikaku glanced back and received nods in acceptance before he focused on his daughter. "Have you had lunch yet?"

"No, but I believe we're finished for today?" Shizuka glanced between Inoichi and Ibiki who nodded again.

"Hai, good work with this, Shizuka-chan. Have a good afternoon." He smiled and walked out, Ibiki followed him out with a parting nod.

"My choice today, right?" Shikaku glanced back to his daughter who nodded up at him. "Alright, let's get some barbeque then."

They left the building and made their way to the familiar barbeque place.

"So, I didn't get a report on your date from yesterday."

"Oh, come on, can no one let this go?" Shizuka grumbled. "Hideyoshi is a Chūnin medic at the hospital. He was the one to heal Kaito's knee injury who then introduced him to me."

"I know who he is and how you met. That isn't relevant to the date." Shizuka sweatdropped at her father's nonchalant tone.

"We went to the curry place at the centre of the market district, we chatted for hours. He's nice, smart but boring. He's been in the medic corps so long he barely goes on missions. He's an only child, his parents are both civilians. His Genin team disbanded after they all became Chūnin." Shizuka listed off what they had talked about.

"Sounds boring. And the way home?"

"Tō-San…" Shizuka gave him a tiny zap to the arm before she shook her head and linked his arm with hers. "He walked with me to the main road but we lived in different directions from there, so we went our own way. Genma was also making his way home and he walked me home as it was in the same direction."

"There aren't any residence blocks past compound on the road, and he walked you _through_ the compound."

Shizuka didn't answer as they had reached the restaurant. The father-daughter duo waved at the owner who greeted them cheerily before leading them to a table booth at the back.

"The usual for you two?"

"Hai, thank you." Shikaku smiled at the older Akimichi woman offered them cups with water and edamame to snack on before their food arrived.

"He's a good friend, we were talking about missions and our friends." Shizuka explained for what felt like the millionth time, popping some of the beans into her mouth.

"Just friends." Her father hummed as he sipped at his water, his gaze focused on his daughter. "A bit defensive."

"Because everything is poking at something that _isn't_ there." Shizuka leaned her crossed arms on the table, "And if, _if,_ there was why would it matter?"

"You tell me."

"I'm seventeen, Tō-San. All of my friends are older than me. Besides mini Ino-Shika-Chō everyone is older. Even Reiji who graduated after me is older than me by a month." Shizuka huffed as she watched her father.

"Genma is eight years older, you can at least see why that would be concerning."

"But there isn't anything there." Shizuka shook her head, already reaching her limits of this conversation. "Yeah, I enjoy our conversations, he's funny and he's smart enough to provide decent conversation material even if it isn't in his speciality zone."

"Alright." Shikaku leaned back as the plates of meat were put on the side.

He started laying out strips of meat on the barbeque and waited for Shizuka to stop gaping at him.

"You're really dropping this? Thought you'd continue the questioning." The younger Nara let her shoulders relax as she helped him prepare the food.

"You told me there's nothing there so I'll take your word for it." Shikaku returned to observing his daughter as she flipped the meat on the grill. "Though I expect to be told when that changes."

"What makes you think it's going to change?"

"You don't think he's boring."

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to guest comments:**

 **Candice:**

 **Hey again!**

 **Again, racoon was considered, but I thought she already has the summons but in my thinking, I came across what I personally feel is a funnier option :D Good guesses though! No hints in this chapter unless I did it unconsciously.**

 **Yes! I'm excited to start writing him again! And the poisonous flowers is kind of what started their friendship so it's a 'symbol'.**

 **And yeah, I didn't want Genma to be the first person she ever went on a date because she's still young so needs to meet people before. And then there is this chapter XD**

 **Guess that answers your Shikaku question XD I've had this chapter ready since before your review so perfect timing for this chapter.**

 **Thanks for the comments! I enjoy reading your comments :D**

 **xx**


	29. Duty

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Okay, so the rookies have graduated! More canon characters will start appearing and the storyline will bleed through. But remember, Shizuka isn't meant to be someone that will change everything, she will have influence in some parts and some things will change because she hadn't been there in canon.**

 **Since I've enjoyed the conversations I've had with the readers, here's a question for you:**

 **What canon event are you most looking forward to seeing from her perspective?**

 **I'll be replying at the end of every chapter and might even give the best answer a sneak peek into the next chapter!**

 **Thanks! And Enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 29 - Duty**

After months of planning, three teams had been assembled for the final takedown of the drug and human trafficking ring. The entire task force had been running for over a year, gathering information on the contacts, suppliers, buyers and more.

Unfortunately, they had never found a name on the 'middle man' who distributed orders and supervised the whole operation and the actual boss. However, after taking down most of the major warehouses they had the central base to go before they went after their allies and most prominent clients.

A downside of tackling it in this manner is that the central base probably suspected an attack, which meant the planning had to be done with surgical precision to ensure a successful wipeout.

Three teams comprised of ANBU were finally sent off to the final base. And due to her role in the task force, Shizuka's squad was selected, joining them was Yūgao's and Genma's squads. Ibiki was also involved as to simplify the process of questioning whomever thy captured.

Cat-Taichō led the squad as usual for the actual confrontation, but once it was time for the cleanup procedures and general investigation and compiling of information from the base Shizuka became the go-to for orders.

The confrontation was surprisingly dramatic, causing holes in one of the walls of the bunker, damaging some of the support pillars inside as well as general damage to the area around it.

But it was to be expected that the final base would have stronger opponents waiting on them. No one from the three squads came out intact, all of them sporting different shades of blacks and blues, covered in mud, blood, water and ash.

They had to sleep the first night outside so that they wouldn't have to fear the ceiling collapsing on them or the dangers of smoke inhalation. The next day, before the sun had fully appeared the shinobi with earth, water and wood release made their rounds ensuring the structure was safe to walk around in.

From that point on, while the members searched the rooms, Ibiki questioned the survivors and Shizuka moved between groups compiling the information and cross-referencing it to what they already had.

It took nearly two weeks for them to be completely done with everything, and with their prisoners secured they made their way back home.

And now, Shizuka had the great pleasure of writing the longest report she had ever written, summarising the entire task force and everything that they had found out from the final takedown. This report was to be given straight to the Hokage and her father who would review and decide what to do next.

Inoichi and Ibiki had briefed her on her return that she should include a recommendation on what to do next since she had a deeper understanding of this case than a simple report could convey.

And so she wrote that the task force should be scaled down and put on the backburner. There were no more ties into the Fire country, at least none that they could find or didn't already have a scheme in a plan to eliminate, this meant there was no imminent threat to them, however the whole operation set a precedent which meant they should be vigilant as to not let something similar grow to this scale.

She was so immersed in writing her recommendation that she didn't notice Ino enter the kitchen.

"So, Shizuka-Nee, I heard you went on another date yesterday." Ino's tone was expectant as she sat across from the Nara on the kitchen table. "Is it the same boy from before? Did you get a boyfriend?"

Shizuka put her pen down shuffled the paper to the side so that she could lean forward on her elbows, a smile tugging at her lips as Ino all but bounced in her seat.

"I went out with friends last night to celebrate the end of a long case." Shizuka grinned as Ino slumped in disappointment. "Shouldn't you be in the living room studying with Shika and Chōji?"

"Shika is sleeping and Chōji is just munching on chips. I've decided to take a break."

"Want me to get them to work?"

"I want you to tell me who Genma is."

' _Oh come on.'_ Shizuka's eyes twitched in annoyance. _'Shika, you will regret that.'_

"Genma is a _friend_ who I've worked with a couple of times. He lives close by so we often walk together." Shizuka leaned back and stretched her arms above her head before standing.

She walked to the living room and over to Shikamaru who was slumped over the small table in front of the sofa that seemed to be covered in papers and books.

Reaching out to his shoulder she gave him a light zap causing him to jump up and glare at her. Shizuka raised her eyebrow and nodded towards Ino who was settling back onto the floor.

"I said you went out, she assumed it was a date."

"And Genma?"

"He _did_ walk you home again."

Rolling her eyes Shizuka tugged at his ponytail and snorted as he tried to slap her hand away, only to let go a moment later when a knock sounded at the door.

Opening the door revealed a bird-masked ANBU who quickly nodded at her in greeting.

"You've been summoned by Yamanaka Inoichi to his office for a meeting."

Shizuka nodded in understanding and the ANBU promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke. Closing the door and walking back inside she sat on the small step to put on her shoes.

"Shika, I've been summoned for a meeting at Intelligence. I'll be back later!"

"Hai!" His answering call was followed by Ino's and Chōji's goodbye.

* * *

The meeting had been a quick one, more of a mission debrief than anything else. The village had received some intel that there was a group of unidentified shinobi arriving at a town they had a watch in due to rumours of information selling.

They had never caught anything, but the mere mention of a security breach drove everyone in the administration and intelligence offices into a frenzy. So put a sleeper agent in the village and that was that.

Until now when there was a threat of foreign shinobi in the area which meant that if there was a security breach they needed it fixed immediately.

The young Nara barely remembered her run home. After sending her summons off to gather the team, she had collected the relevant information from Inoichi's desk and a stop into her office to collect other materials that she would need brief the others and for the mission itself. This meant she didn't have long left to actually get ready for a mission as she had been dressed for a casual day off.

She dumped her shoes hastily in the hall and didn't even spare the three soon to be graduates a look as she ran up to her room to get her ready-to-go mission pack. A quick grab into the closet she retrieved her usual outfit and she didn't even go to the bathroom and just changed in her room.

With everything in hand she went downstairs to the entrance hall where she sat down to put her shoes back on. As she finished pulling on her shoes Shikamaru, Chōji and Ino walked to the entrance hall from the living room.

"You have a mission? I thought you were doing some work with Intelligence inside the village." Shikamaru questioned as he and his friends watched her check the contents of her bag.

"Ah, yeah but we got this last-minute information, so they want my team to investigate." Shizuka shrugged as she sat on the small step to pull on her boots.

"Shizuka-Nee-San, will you at least make it for our graduation? We're going to the barbeque place like we did for yours." Ino asked as she watched the older girl finished getting ready to leave. "You did promise you'd be there."

"That I did, Ino. This mission shouldn't take more than two weeks without complications, so I'll try my best to be here by then. Tō-San should already know I'm leaving, but do let Ka-San know when she returns too. Good luck!" She smiled at the soon to be graduates and waved goodbye before making her way towards the gate.

"Emiko, Shun, Kaito, thank you for coming so quickly."

"You owe Masaru and me a dinner at the fancy Akimichi sushi place." Kaito grumbled as he adjusted the straps of his backpack. "Anyway, where are we off to?"

"Northeast we aren't leaving the Land of Fire but going close to our border with the Land of Hot Water." Shizuka replied as they checked out of the gates. "Usual formation, we'll be setting a fast pace as this is time sensitive. I'll brief you on the way."

"Hai." With that, the quartet fell into formation and launched into the trees.

* * *

Days later they arrived late afternoon to the small village close to the border and established a connection with the sleeper agent.

The woman had retired from her position as a Chūnin after an injury left her with permanent nerve damage in her right arm and leg. While not useless in a combat situation she had felt she would be of better use to the village if she was used as a sleeper and having no living connections in the leaf, she was given the task of monitoring the possible security breach.

The quartet split up during dinner to scout out the area before turning in for the night. The next morning Shizuka sent the other three off to investigate while she met with their contact.

None of the woman's information was new, as she had already read the biweekly reports. What _was_ suprising was who else was present in the area.

Excusing herself from the bar Yuki worked in as a bartender she made her way to the edge of the village and disappeared around one of the hills that surrounded the town.

" **Kuchiyose no Jutsu!** Kei! Find Kaito, and tell him to let the others know I have a lead but need them to wait for me at the inn." Shizuka whispered to the dark grey racoon. (Summoning Jutsu)

"Hai, Shizuka-chan!" The summon quickly made its way back into the town.

' _As long as she sticks to alleys no one will care, Kaito should recognise her quickly.'_ Standing up Shizuka focused on the signatures she had felt brush the edge of her range. _'Of all the times to appear…'_

With a sigh, she launched towards where she felt the first group of shinobi were. It didn't take her long to find the small camp set up by the roots of a large tree. Settling into a little nook in the tree branches she waited for the shinobi to speak.

"Are we sure this is the place? There is nothing interesting about this town." Complained the first voice. "Why would Konoha put a sleeper agent here at all?"

"That's what we're here to find out, idiot." The second voice answered followed by a thumping sound. "Are we any closer at finding out _who_ that shinobi is?"

"No." The third voice was sharp and this person did not elaborate any further.

"If there is a Konoha agent here then shouldn't they have called for support? If so more shinobi will arrive soon." The first person spoke up again, clearly agitated by their situation.

There were a few moments of silence before the third voice, the leader of the team probably, spoke again.

"They kill us, then the village will know they do have someone here, or at the least eyes here. If we find who those eyes are and escape alive we get the information."

"Speaking of killing, where the hell is Kazu? He was supposed to be back by now."

"You two stay here, I'll find him." The third person, a male, spoke as he stood before he disappeared in the opposite direction of where Shizuka was hidden and towards the second point she had sensed a signature from.

' _They are looking for the contact, not the possible leak.'_ With a sigh, Shizuka pulled the shadows to her and pulled herself away before running back to the inn.

"You're back." Emiko opened the door to their room revealing Kaito and Shun around the small table. "Kaito got you dumplings."

"And that is why he is my favourite teammate." Shizuka grinned as she plopped down next to the other team four-member, eagerly accepting the small box of her favourite food. "The foreign shinobi are from Kumo, I saw a group of three in camp and they mentioned they had a fourth member."

"I'd say going on your own was stupid, but I'll assume you thought about the risk." Kaito shook his head as he too opened a box of dumplings. "So, what did you find?"

"They are after Yuki-San, but if they find her they find the leak."

"Which means if we eliminate them, Kumo will suspect a truth to the issue and return. But if we allow them to go about their attempts we risk them finding out about the leak." Shun propped his chin on his clasped hands. "How will we proceed?"

"We have a third option." Shizuka sighed putting down her chopsticks and moved to her bag, pulling out a scroll. "We can find the leak and close the entire operation."

"Do we know where to even start with that?" Emiko's eyes widened as she leant forward to see what Shizuka unsealed from the scroll. "These documents?"

"Are my notes from Yuki-San's reports. This is everything we know about the leak." Shizuka sighed before flashing through the handsigns for the summoning jutsu again. " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu!** Jun, sorry for calling you again so soon. I need you to run a message to Konoha for me."

Jun was a bit larger than a common racoon and his fur was a dusty red, but despite his size and the impression his fur gave he was quite lean and was Shizuka's fastest summon. She rarely had to call on him other than when she had to get messages to people quickly. He also adored Kaito for whatever reason which made for great entertainment whenever they had to interact.

"Hai, Shizuka-chan! Kaito-San, hope all is well?" He crawled around Shizuka to huddle closer to Kaito's side earning himself a pat on the head from her teammate.

Letting Kaito deal with the cuddly summon Shizuka quickly wrote a message to Inoichi and the Hokage. She added in a comment to her father in her uncle's missive figuring he'd get involved with this anyways.

Looking up she saw Shun's amused lip twitch and Emiko was biting her lip trying not to laugh, with a glance at Kaito she noticed Jun had his head on Kaito's shoulder as he received a good head scratch.

"Alright, cuddling time is over, Masa would be jealous." Shizuka laughed as Kaito threw his chopsticks at her and she offered the scroll to Jun. "You may wait there for an answer."

"Hai. Kaito-San, Shizuka-Chan, friends." With a nod to each person, Jun jumped out the window of the room and quickly disappeared from their view.

"For now we stay low, we are tourists here. We will not contact Yuki-San unless absolutely necessary. We go about this with caution, do _not_ draw attention to yourselves."

* * *

' _Well, this has gone to shit.'_ Shizuka groaned as she walked through the busy market pretending to look at vegetables. Looking around she met Kaito's eyes as he stood on the other side of the market stand looking at a fresh selection of fresh fruit. _'A simple two-week mission is all I wanted, that obviously couldn't be allowed to happen.'_

' _Three Jōnin three o'clock from you.'_ She signed as she tapped on pepper she was looking at. _'Send Shun after me. Find Emiko return to the inn.'_

Barely glancing at him to check if he had the info and put the peppers back on the stand thanking the vendor before she walked towards the Jōnin, allowing one of them to knock into her shoulder.

"Oh, I'm very sorry, sir." With a shallow bow of her head, she turned around and continued on her way as the man waved her off. _'No sensors, they don't see me as a threat.'_

She continued on her way towards where she knew the Kumo nin had set up camp. Shun caught up to her on the way and with a quick exchange of signals, he broke away from her to find a hiding spot from where he could observe from.

No sooner had she glimpsed the camp and she knew exactly why they had called for backup.

"Kazu, he's a cold-blooded killer. There is no way Uchiha Itachi would have simply let you walk away." The person she recognised was voice number one said as she changed the bandages on her teammate's arm. "What would he be doing here of all places?"

"There must be something of interest! Why would a rogue ninja come close to the position of a sleeper agent?"

"To get information." The reply was immediate. "But it can't be about the sleeper agent, sleeper agent's don't tend to have the most updated information on a village and who knows how long this one has been here."

"Exactly! He either has an informant here or something else."

"Something like a leak, possibly."

' _Shit.'_ Shizuka stifled a groan. _'Guess we have to eliminate them after all. But now we're outnumbered.'_

She felt one of Shun's kikaichū land on her finger and allowed it to crawl over her hand spelling a message.

' _Your orders?'_

Sighing she relayed her information to Shun: 'Eliminate these two. Spring an attack when the others return. Get Emiko and Kaito here now.'

With practised ease, Shizuka pulled herself through the shadows until she landed behind the trunk where her targets were resting. Counting down the seconds she heard Shun's bugs start buzzing, drawing the attention of the two shinobi hidden in the roots.

With their distractions, the Nara body flickered over to them and stabbed each with one of her tantōs, before she pushed their bodies towards a more hidden corner of their camp.

"Is Uchiha still in the area?" Came Shun's immediate question as he landed on the ground beside her.

"Not in my range, but I'll scout the area once we deal with the enemy. We just gave ourselves a tight schedule before the others return here."

"These were Chūnin but the backup team was definitely Jōnin. This team probably called for help when Itachi showed up."

"Probably why the fourth team member wasn't with them when you found them." He sent her a side look, "I'd expect you to be familiar with Uchiha's signature."

"I am, but I trained him how to hide when we were training together. While I've improved since then, I have no doubt he did too. Besides even if I did sense him, I wouldn't have any other option than retreat."

"Do you think he's here for the same reason we are?"

"The leak? Possibly, all the more reason for us to shut it down." Shizuka sighed as she turned to the approaching signatures. "The other two members of their team are arriving, Kaito and Emiko are on the way. So are the other three Jōnin."

"Let's end this quickly then."

Shizuka settled into the shadows of the roots and Shun retreated to a branch that had a clear view of the small camp. The first enemy arrived and went straight under the roots and into Shizuka's range.

"Michiaki, get back!" The second person yelled, already lunging forward to assist his comrade, but he was too late and Shizuka sprung from the shadow tantōs in hand, one sliding smoothly across Michiaki's throat while the other came up to block the second man's katana.

"Damn you, Konoha scum." The man spat before spinning around Shizuka's blade and jumping back to get some distance between them.

"Too late, you're surrounded." Shun's voice carried from where he stepped on the branch overhead

The man growled, his dark golden hair cut short with bangs covering his right eye. He gripped his katana harder before dashing towards Shizuka only to have her parry his strike with her blades crossed.

He clearly had the strength advantage over her as his arms started to push her down, but by now she wasn't very phased by the difference, and instead disengaged only to twist around him and strike at his back.

He spun to keep her in slightly to his side while keeping Shun in range of his peripheral vision. Too bad he did it because seconds later Kaito appeared from the direction he had his back, her teammate was quick to draw his own blade and take the open target.

"Thanks. Prepare, Jōnin incoming. Shun, Kaito you're front line now."

Kaito tossed the body of the fourth Chūnin to the side just as three Jōnin entered their line of sight.

"So Konoha did send someone after all." A tan woman with light orange hair spoke, twin katanas in hand. "Too bad you won't be a match for us."

"They are Kumo's top bounty hunter team, between the three of them they have all elements covered." Shizuka spoke calmly while keeping direct eye contact with the woman who had spoken. "Stick to the usual, don't let them out of your sight."

As soon as she finished speaking Shun launched a wave of kikaichū towards the enemy forcing them to scatter. With the enemies separated from each other, the four Konoha nin launched into their individual opponents, two enemies for Shizuka and Emiko and one for the boys.

Shizuka had to admit it wasn't a pretty fight, they were up against three Jōnin who clearly had their team strategies polished to perfection. They managed to hold their own decently but they got a myriad of cuts and bruises to show for their efforts.

The first enemy to fall was at the cost of some cracked ribs for Shizuka. While using her shadows to keep one opponent in place, the second jumped in to kick Shizuka away only to end up impaled on his comrade's blade due to Emiko's Mind Transfer Jutsu. Said Jōnin was then swiftly dispatched by Shun's kikaichū as soon as Emiko returned to her body.

The last standing Jōnin was the orange haired woman who was now rather furious at her two comrades. She charged her two blades with lightning chakra and dashed forward to strike at Shun who prepared to draw the blade strapped to his back.

Knowing he wouldn't hold off too well against a lightning charged blade, Shizuka ignored her throbbing torso and locked her own lightning charged blades with those of the older woman.

Kaito immediately backed her up and between the two of them, they pushed the woman back a few metres.

That is when she heard the first explosion.

Emiko and Shun immediately moved forward allowing her to fall behind them, her senses flaring to locate the source of the sound.

' _Shit, Yuki-San has been captured. Of course, they had a fourth Jōnin on this team.'_ Shizuka glanced over to Kaito's fight with the woman and between the other two members of her team.

"You guys need to handle this, I'll pursue the other one."

"I can follow." Shun glanced over his shoulder at her briefly as she prepared to leave the sight.

"No." Shizuka ran through her options, "They are moving fast unless you're faster than what you've let on, you can't keep up. Besides, this woman is skilled, Kaito will need support."

"But you-"

"I'll be chasing the other Jōnin, you have the time to finish this and catch up while I engage him. Kaito is the fastest, so make sure he's in good condition to back me up."

"We can take this woman and Kaito can go with you."

"This woman is very skilled at Kenjutsu, neither of you two is specialised in close range, Kaito is your best shot right now." Shizuka quickly shot down the option. "I'm counting on you two to send Kaito after me once you defeat the woman. Good luck."

Shizuka gave them a second to nod their understanding of their orders before she launched into the tree. She heard the sound of deflected projectiles at her back and knowing her comrades had her covered she launched the pursuit of their last opponent.

As she ran Shizuka ran through all her options to engage the runaway. Yuki-San was alive, judging by her smooth chakra signature, but probably unconscious. She was confident that if she got the woman out of the enemy's hands she could protect herself enough that Shizuka could focus on her opponent without worrying too much about covering her.

She also had the option of sending the woman back to her village or to run back to meet her teammates where she would have protection and be away from the enemy.

The option was taken out of her hand just over an hour later as she finally caught a glimpse of the woman over the enemy's shoulder.

' _That's a lot of blood.'_ Shizuka cursed and pushed her legs to move just a bit faster.

The man clearly noticed her gaining ground as he threw kunai with explosive tags backwards to throw her off course.

Dodging to the side she cursed as the man had already thrown a kunai in that direction too, having anticipated her move.

Letting herself fall under a branch instead of jumping on it, she attached her shadow to the underside of it so that she could use it to move away.

' _Dammit, he's speeding up. I can't go any faster.'_ Pulling out her own explosive tags and kunai she planned where she was going to throw them.

From behind her target, she had to aim ahead of him, and that meant throwing it into her own path too. She had to be careful with her throws or else she would just injure herself.

Knowing this she launched two plain kunai forcing the man to dodge to the side before launching two tagged kunai as far ahead as she could with the help of wind chakra.

Keeping track of where the first one landed she counted the seconds it took for the man to reach that far ahead, before activating the tag just as the man was about to land on the tree she had hit.

"Shit!" The man lost his balance and was forced to flip mid-air to keep running, only to be forced to dodge the second explosion from a kunai that had landed to the tree just next to it.

The two explosions were useful for two reasons. The first one being that they would help her teammates find her and the second was that she gained the ground she needed to launch her next attack.

No sooner had the man landed on a new branch, Shizuka was already up behind him grabbing at Yuki's torso. With a knee to the centre of the man's back, she dragged Yuki down to the branch as the man stumbled ahead.

Not waiting for him to recover, Shizuka secured Yuki's arm over her shoulder and body flickered to another tree, putting some distance between her and the Kuno shinobi.

Normally, Shizuka avoided these types of situations where she needed to protect someone or something alone against an opponent. It put a severe limitation on what she could do, in this case, the person she had to protect was injured and unconscious so she couldn't just tell Yuki to run.

Hopefully, Kaito would be on his way by now, an hour should have been enough for him to beat his opponent, especially if he knew she would be needing backup.

Clearing her mind of what could possibly be happening on that end, she had to focus on her current predicament.

"I must admit you're fast, girlie." The scar that ran across the man's cheek pulled into a disconcerting extension of his smirk. "But this doesn't look too good for you."

Shizuka grit her teeth and pulled her tantōs, putting herself in front of Yuki so that the woman's slumped form was covered by her. Flashing handsigns she summoned Seto, a nearly all-white racoon that stood at about her size.

The man in front glared at the summon who merely blinked at him before moving to stand guard in front of Yuki-San. With that out of the way, she just needed to focus on the fight.

' _I'm going to have to give the racoons so many riddles and lessons for all the summoning I've been doing...'_ Shizuka sighed at the thought of her contract with the racoons.

When she first summoned the creatures she was very nearly overwhelmed by the number of questions she had received. The woodland creatures loved riddles and puzzles and learning, though they didn't have a large attention span, which often frustrated Shizuka, they were clever and useful in tight spots so she couldn't complain much.

Their deal was that for every time she summoned she had to spend an hour teaching them something, or giving them puzzles and riddles to solve. In all honesty, she didn't mind her side of the deal, and it was better than having to hunt for insects to feed her summons as Masaru had to do for his bats.

With another shake of her head, she launched forward as the man pulled the naginata from his back to block her blades.

"Seto, get away from here, meet up with Kaito. He'll know what to do, find me after."

Just as opponent launched kunai with explosive tags after her summon, she flew through handsigns for a wind jutsu to knock them off course.

As the explosion shockwaves blew past, jumped to a higher branch to take cover behind the trunk of a tree.

The man made to pursue them, but Shizuka quickly put herself in his path, blades heavy with chakra leaving a deep scratch on the naginata where it connected.

The man scowled and kicked at her legs, forcing her to jump away. Shizuka knew he would try to end her quickly to run after Yuki and Seto, so she knew she just had to keep him busy for as long as she could.

Unfortunately for her, the man was in better shape. She had already been fighting against his teammates before, and she was injured. In addition to that, the man was physically stronger than her, and she could feel the reverberation of his attacks through her arms, forcing her to strain them just a bit more than usual.

She was forced to defend, keeping both blades in hand, and with the man's fast strikes, she didn't have the time to weave the handsigns for a jutsu.

She could feel her movements slowing down, her reactions just milliseconds slower than what they usually were and that ended up costing her greatly.

In a matter of seconds, Shizuka was forced to deflect several blows to her injured side and caught the man's blade with both of hers, leaving her left side exposed.

She let out a groan as the man landed a kick to the left side of her rib cage which sent her flying backwards and into the trunk of a tree. Her eyes widened as the man kicked at her wrist sending her tantō to the forest floor and rolled to avoid a stab to the chest.

She wasn't fast enough it seemed as she felt the searing pain of the lightning infused blade against her side and felt the blood drip down her torso.

Gritting her teeth she dropped her other tantō in favour of weaving handsigns as the man rushed at her to finish her off.

' _Ah, he hasn't realised I'm a Nara. Should have kept my hands busy, idiot.'_ Shizuka launched her shadow forward just as the man entered her range.

 **"Kage Nui no Jutsu."** (Art of Shadow Stitching)

Her opponent's gold eyes barely had time to widen as black tendrils of shadows moved to pierce his body at several vital points. His body slumped, only being held up by the shadows.

Slumping back so that her head rested on the tree behind her she spread her senses letting out a relieved sigh as she felt Kaito enter her range and Seto's signature closing in on his position.

Taking a moment to take stock of her body she then stood and walked over to the dead Kumo ninja, efficiently sealing him into a body scroll and putting it back into the pouch she had on her waist.

Once that was done she moved to lean back against the tree, keeping her senses open for any approaching signature. Once locating Seto she could have focused on him, but instead, she changed her focus to another nearby signature.

' _Please don't interfere…'_ She sighed as she felt the signature 'brush' against hers, _'So you know I'm here then…'_

She closed her eyes for a moment, paying attention to the movement of the familiar signature, but he didn't seem to be moving. She didn't realise she had spent so long observing because she inhaled sharply when she heard Seto's approach.

"Shizuka-chan are you alright?" Seto landed on her branch and looked her over, his frame towering over her form.

"I could be better, but I'll be alright once we reach safety."

"Climb on my back, you need to rest." Seto turned his back and crouched to allow Shizuka to pull herself on the summon's back. "Rest, I'll wake you when we arrive."

Shizuka hummed as she buried her head in the scruff of the racoon's neck, her eyes drooping as she made herself comfortable.

To her, it seemed as if she had just closed her eyes before she blinked her eyes open once more. Though it had clearly been longer than that as she now stood near the gates to a town at the border of the Land of Hot Springs.

"Would you like me to take you to Kaito-kun?" Seto asked as she slid off his back, wincing as she noticed the blood covering his light fur. The large racoon sighed as he noticed what she was looking at. "Worry not about that, Shizuka-chan, just go get healed."

"Thank you, Seto." Shizuka reached out with her left arm so that she could scratch the top of his snout and between his eyes. "You may go now, I can sense Kaito's location from here."

The racoon nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke as she turned to the entrance of the small little town Kaito had retreated to.

Finding her teammate was easy as he had settled into a hotel in the outskirt of the town to avoid drawing attention. Mentally thanking him for his decision she managed to navigate the back streets without encountering anyone.

' _The sound of explosions would already draw attention, the sight of a bleeding shinobi would only make it worse.'_ As she reached the back of the inn Kaito had picked she wrinkled her nose at the rundown appearance but knew she couldn't complain considering they were supposed to keep a low profile.

She stood in the cover of the trees for a few moments and sure enough, Kaito's head appeared at one of the windows, his eyes immediately zoning in on her location before he leaned inside and opened the window a bit more.

Landing inside she focused on Yuki's still unconscious form on the bed and then proceeded to scan over Kaito for any injuries.

"I'm fine, Zuka." Kaito reached out to her and pulled her into his side. "Better than you, judging by the amount of blood on your person."

"Yeah, by ribs took a beating. Got niced in the side by a lightning-infused blade too." Shizuka sighed as Kaito took a step back to prod gently at her side. "Let me clean up and get it wrapped. Is Yuki-San alright?"

"Hai, she had a cut on her head, arm and thigh but I've cleaned and bandaged those already. Let me know if you need help with your ribs."

Shizuka offered him a smile and squeezed his arm before she moved to the small bathroom attached to the room. She didn't have any extra clothes on her person, which was slightly annoying considering her shirt, jacket and vest had been cut through, but she did have a basic first aid kit sealed in her pouch so that she could tend to her wound.

Stepping carefully into the shower she took extra care with her side that still throbbed, but clenching her teeth she pushed through until she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off, wincing as she passed over her ribcage.

"Kaito, would you mind lending me your mesh shirt? Mine is destroyed." Shizuka called quietly to the room through the small crack of the door she opened.

"Hai, do you need help with the bandages?"

"That would be nice, it kind of hurts to move torso right now." Shizuka sighed as she looked in the mirror to see her wound. "Just let me cover up first."

The blade had nicked her in the side, luckily it hadn't been deep enough to pierce her lungs but it was enough to cause her to lose enough blood to feel queasy. Not to mention the obvious signs of lightning zigzagging across her skin leaving it an angry red.

She looked at her blood-soaked sports bra and opted instead for wrapping her chest with bandages before calling Kaito into the bathroom.

"Damn, that looks awful." Kaito winced sympathetically as he offered her his under armour mesh shirt. "It will be large on you but it'll have to do. Where's your first aid kit?"

"Sink." Shizuka nodded towards the sink counter and sat on the toilet sideways as Kaito kneeled at her side.

"Remember when we asked Kouta-Sensei to help us with more advanced first aid?"

"How could I forget? It was after the mountain lion mission." Shizuka smiled as Kaitio attempted to distract her as he applied the healing salve her clan produced. "Do you need to restock on anything?"

"I used the last of my salve on Yuki-San, so I'll be sure to stop by your house when we get back."

"I'll put the order in then." Shizuka smiled as Kaito stood to get the bandages on the counter.

She sat silently as he wrapped the bandages and thanked him as he helped her stand up.

"Need help with the shirt?"

"Yeah, I don't think I can raise either arm just yet." Shizuka groaned as she moved her shoulders to test out the movement.

"Alright, let's get you to bed."

Kaito laughed as he helped manoeuvre herself into the shirt. It was rather large on her but it turned out to be convenient as it made slipping it on a bit easier.

"Ah, tomorrow, do you think we could stop at the market on the way back? I need to buy some gifts."

Kaito gave her a deadpan look but sighed and nodded at her pleading eyes.

"Fine, but we need to be quick. I sent a summon to Emiko and Shun letting them know we would be back around lunchtime while you were in the shower."

"That might be a tight time frame with mine and Yuki-san's injuries."

"I think we should be okay, though it might be after lunch with your little stop."

"I'll go first thing in the morning! I already know what I'm going to get!"

"Sleep, Zuka, we'll figure it out tomorrow." Kaito ruffled her hair and moved to sit by the window to keep watch over the two sleeping women.

* * *

The way back took more time due to their injuries but had otherwise been an easy return and they had indeed made it back early afternoon.

They met with Shun and Emiko back at the inn briefing the two as Yuki showered and changed into some clothes Emiko had gathered from her home.

"What are we going to do then? Yuki-san's cover is blown, it would be best if she stayed hidden until we clear everything up." Emiko questioned as they sat around the table in the girl's room.

"Kaito, you and I will have one last look around the village. We gather everything we can today and tomorrow, and leave first thing the day after that." Shizuka explained, her eyes darting out the window observing the sun's position in the sky. "Shun, stay here with Yuki-San, I'll rest tomorrow so don't argue with me, but I need to focus on something or else I'll drive you all insane later."

Her team sighed but didn't argue, though Kaito sent them a look saying he'll stay close to the youngest member of their team to keep her out of trouble.

Shizuka and Kaito agreed to pose as a couple in the market district while Emiko would start in a different area of the town. After putting clean clothes on they went into the bustling streets.

It was an hour later just as the pair settled into a booth at a tea house for something to eat that they heard the first real lead they had.

"So, is it true they get these supplies from a regular shipment from Konoha? None of them ever leave town, how do they know anyone from there anyway?"

Kaito and Shizuka froze from where they sat reading the menu and shot each other a suspicious look.

"Maybe someone from there came here? You heard the explosion, ninjas were in the area."

"No the stocks were low, they haven't received anything new recently. Besides, why would ninja escort a shipment of simple ornaments?"

The two men continued their conversation, although their voices were quiet the two shinobi in the booth behind theirs had been amplifying their senses in hopes of catching some type of information.

Kaito and Shizuka continued listening to the men talk, they had ended up shifting topics soon after to other rumours floating around town. As they heard the two move to stand the pair shared a nod and ordered their bill.

"An ornament shop, really?" Shizuka sighed as they stood up to walk towards the ornament shop they assumed was the one the men had talked about.

"It's always the unassuming ones." Kaito linked their arms together and smiled as a group of older ladies cooed at them. "Creepy."

Shizuka huffed out a laugh as they turned onto the main street only to freeze in place as something moved into the alley next to the shop they were heading to.

"Zuka, you alright? Is your side hurting?" Kaito was quick to step in front of her, his hands resting on her upper arms. "Zuka!"

"Hai, no." Shizuka shook her head. "I'm alright, I just can't laugh without it hurting so it took me by surprise."

"Okay…" Kaito stepped aside and turned so that they could walk into the shop.

Shizuka nudged her shoulder against his to reassure him and looked across the small shop to the worker at the counter when the bell over the door rang.

They looked over the ornaments across the shop until one thing caught Shizuka's attention. Between a couple of ceramic vases were small wooden carved figurines. A glance around the shop revealed that these were the only wooden ornaments they had.

The figurines were small fitting easily into her hand but had delicate details carved into the smooth medium dark brown wood. Each was carved into the shape of a different animal or had a drawing of different flowers scratched onto a smooth surface.

"Excuse me, this wood, it's very fragrant. I've never seen anything like it." Shizuka smiled at the woman working the counter who tilted her head at the question but didn't move to see what the Nara was holding.

"Oh, I'm not sure, I would have to ask the boss." The woman then moved towards the door that probably leads into the stock room. "I could ask him now if you wish?"

"Yes, please." Shizuka smiled sweetly as the woman moved out of the front store room. "Kaito, go hunt them down, just the boss and the girl. This is wood from the Nara forest, and I've never heard of this shop."

"Hai." Kaito followed the woman quickly while Shizuka flipped the shop sign to 'closed'.

Following behind her teammate calmly, she heard the sound of a falling body and curses. She arrived in the storeroom to see boxed tipped over and two slumped bodies with senbon stuck into their necks.

"No troubles here then?"

"Nope. Good spot with the wood."

"Ah, well I did grow up around it." Shizuka shrugged as she thumbed the small wooden lynx figurine. "They could be reselling, but even then we should know."

"Hm, we'll need to seal everything up and we have two gifts for T&I."

"I'll go get Emiko, I'll also send Shun and Yuki to come help, it'll be faster that way. We'll head home tomorrow."

"I'll keep an eye around here and start on the sealing." He pulled out a small scroll from his pouch. "Do we have enough storage scrolls?"

"I should have some in my pack. I'll bring those back with me."

Kaito nodded and proceeded to drag the slumped bodies to a corner so that he could keep an eye on them while working. Shizuka left right after to fetch the rest of her team.

Before leaving the street she gave the dark alley a look over but finding nothing she went ahead with her tasks.

"Emiko, go find Kaito and help him out at the shop. The leak has been neutralised on this end." It was easy to find Emiko as she had been closing in on the end of her section close to the market district.

"Hai, how did you find it?" Emiko let out a relieved sigh as she fell into step with Shizuka.

"We heard a rumour and checked it out. Kaito can explain when you get there, I'm going to get the others. The sooner we finish this the better."

Emiko nodded and turned to the direction Kaito was located, while Shizuka returned to their inn to get Shun and Yuki.

"Shun, Yuki-San, I'm back." Shizuka called as she slid into the girl's room finding the two playing a game of cards. "We found the leak on this end, its been taken care of, but we have some clean up to do."

"I can help if you'd like? But I'd need to borrow a storage scroll." Yuki offered as she looked up.

"That would be appreciated, thank you." Shizuka smiled as she reached into her pack and retrieved two scrolls passing one to Yuki. "Once we're done one of us can help you gather anything you need from your house, I don't think you'll be staying here."

The trio then made their way back to the ornament shop. Yuki and Shun went to the backroom to help there as most of the good were there while only a few were displayed at the front of the shop.

It took the five of them just over an hour to seal everything up and then have a look around the attached apartment on top to ensure everything had been stored.

The team went through the process of cleanup smoothly and Kaito left two lemur summons watching their prisoners in the back room to not risk any of the civilians in the area hearing about it.

"It was right under our noses the entire time!" Kaito grumbled as he rolled his shoulder once they finally left the shop.

"And the wood figurines, how did you spot those?" Emiko laughed as she nudged Shizuka's shoulder.

"They out of place amongst everything else so they caught my attention." Shizuka shrugged her hand moving to her pocket where one figurine rested as the team chuckled at her nonchalant answer.

"Yuki-San, we could go to your former house now, if you'd like?" Emiko offered as their laughter died down.

"Yes, that would be ideal, thank you." Yuki smiled at the younger shinobi. "Goodnight, boys, Shizuka-chan we'll try not to wake you."

"Thank you." The remaining three shinobi waved them off as they went inside the inn and towards their rooms.

"Goodnight, Zuka. If you need help with the wrapping just let me know." Kaito gave her shoulder a pat as he entered his room, Shun nodded at her and followed him inside.

"Hai, thank you. Goodnight boys." She smiled at them as she walked into the room she would be sharing with Emiko and Yuki for their last night in town and went straight towards the bathroom for a shower.

She took her time because of her injuries and after applying an ointment she had in her pack and rewrapping her ribs she went to lie down in bed only to startle at the sight of her pillow.

A black feather and a folded piece of paper lay right in the middle of her pillow. She grabbed the items and moved to the window scanning the town for a specific signature only to come up blank.

Opening the folded piece of paper she snorted and shook her head before placing the feather inside the voucher and putting it in the inside pocket of her vest.

' _I accept your apology.'_ Shizuka sighed happily as she snuggled under the covers. _'It is my favourite dumpling restaurant after all.'_

* * *

Back in Konoha the recently graduated generation of Ino-Shika-Chō and their families had gathered at their usual barbeque restaurant for a celebratory dinner.

The three Genin smiled and laughed as they chatted away in their booth at the back of the restaurant, but they were slightly sad that one particular person wasn't present.

"Is Shizuka not joining us for dinner?" Miku Akimichi finally asked as they all waited for the meat to be brought out.

"She was sent out on a mission three weeks ago and hasn't returned yet." Shikaku answered, catching the attention of the recent graduates.

"She said it wasn't supposed to be longer than two weeks." Ino stated, her eyes reflecting her disappointment.

"Sometimes missions go on for longer than what is estimated, missions where you are gathering information have the added time of making sure the information is good." Inoichi shrugged, "Do you think she'll be willing to finish off her time at Intel? I could use an extra set of eyes for some of the smaller cases."

"She'll probably accept, she's been enjoying her time in village more than usual lately." Yoshino smiled, sharing a teasing look with Miku and Akira who smiled brightly.

"So, little Shizuka has found herself a boyfriend?" Yamanaka Akira gushed, the three women snickering at Shikaku's scowl.

"So she _does_ have a boyfriend?! Why hasn't she told me anything?" Ino shifted closer to her mother, "Well, who is he? Is it-"

"Now, now. This night is about you becoming Genin, not my love life." They heard a voice from just outside their booth.

All eyes focused on her, thus making them miss Shikaku's large gulp of sake and Shikamaru's wrinkled nose.

"You're here!" Ino exclaimed happily, as Shizuka slowly lowered herself to sit at her father's side, at the edge of the booth.

"I did promise, Ino-Chan." Shizuka teased as she pulled three scrolls from her pack. "I've brought gifts to celebrate your new rank. Snacks for Chōji, a bottle of the imported shampoo I use that Ino always asks for and a new strategy game for Shika."

"Thank you, Nee-San!" The three chorused, bringing amused smiles to the adults' faces.

Shizuka smiled back and melted into her seat once they looked away to talk about the other teams. She shifted around in her seat stifling a wince as she jostled some of her wounds.

"Did you just get back?" Chōza asked as he watched her carefully, having noticed her stiff posture.

"I came straight from the Hokage tower." She smiled sheepishly, ignoring her mother's pointed stare, feeling glad that her father was sitting between them.

"Anything you want to tell us?" Her mother asked slowly, her tone with the barest hint of a threat.

"I-" Shizuka started speaking but as her mother's expression morphed into a glare she slumped and relented, "I'll go for a checkup after this."

"Since when do you dislike the hospital?" Chōza raised his eyebrows in surprise at her reaction.

"Since she went out with a medic-nin who now has a little crush on her." Yoshino grinned as the women cooed and the others held in their snorts as Shizuka's expression melted into a pout.

"You can't forget that Asami-San has caught on to her team's attempts at setting her up with Kouta-San so she's been _intense_ , whenever one of the three shows up on her shifts."

The group laughed as Shizuka slumped into her father's side until their food arrived. They ordered an extra portion for her as she had arrived late and started eating exchanging small talk, much like the time she had graduated.

* * *

After dinner, the three families left the restaurant to their own homes. Yoshino and Shikamaru went home while Shikaku went with Shizuka to the hospital to have her wounds tended to.

The father-daughter duo walked together towards the hospital slowly as Shizuka was starting to feel the effect of her mission.

"So, is there a particular reason ANBU is on alert right now?" Shizuka glanced up at her father with an expectant look as she felt _another_ ANBU on standby.

"We had a little issue with security." Her father replied his lip twitching, into a smile or a frown she couldn't really tell. "Issue has been solved, they are just on alert because it's only been a few hours since."

Shizuka watched him for another moment as he looked ahead. Figuring that he wouldn't elaborate she shrugged and proceeded to watch the quiet street they were walking through.

The streets were silent and not as full as they would be on a regular night, she could only assume it was because of the breach. Making a note to ask Masaru whenever she met up with him she moved on to the next relevant topic.

"There was a security breach, kind of. The village had a contact that received information from inside the village and then sold that to anyone who would listen." Shizuka sighed as she felt her father tense, "Contact has been disposed and we have some names to follow up, but the sleeper agent cover was blown."

"Troublesome." Shikaku pinched the bridge of his nose before looking down at his daughter. "And your injuries?"

"Kumo. Two teams, a Chūnin team sent to investigate the rumour of a leak and a Jōnin team for backup."

"Backup? Your team got found out? Why didn't your message say so?" Shikaku's tone held a bit of a surprise.

"Nope, Uchiha Itachi injured one of the Chūnin who called for backup."

"Shizuka…" His tone took on a slightly warning tone and his voice lowered to a whisper. "You're going to have to write one hell of a report."

"He didn't interfere at all, he was in the area and injured the Chūnin who assumed he was there for the leak." Shizuka whispered as they entered the street to the hospital. "I can't say I didn't sense him, but I definitely didn't confront him. I'm not stupid."

"What happened then, if you weren't found out how did the fight break out."

"We were lucky, took them down in smaller units, but one Jōnin captured Yuki-San and I pursued. I already had cracked ribs and in the last confrontation I got stabbed with a lightning infused blade."

"You pursued alone? Knowing a dangerous missing nin was in the area? You should know better."

"I was the only one able to keep up." Shizuka explained as her father gestured for a medic nin to check her over. "I just-"

"I heard that you would be stopping by." Asami interrupted as she approached the duo from behind Shizuka.

The young Nara didn't have to turn to know the woman had a scowl on her face.

"Your team came in a few hours ago and kindly informed what your injuries were. Get in the room, I'll have a look."

"But-"

"Get. In. The. Room." Asami started herding her into one of the checkup rooms, and Shizuka only sent her father a look when he sat in a chair in the little waiting hall.

"You better have your wound wrapped properly at least." Asami called as she bustled to the counter to fetch the materials she would need, allowing Shizuka to remove her vest and expose the wrapped bandages.

"Yes, Asami-San." Settling into the checkup bed she let her legs dangle off the edge. "Have you seen Kouta-Sensei lately?"

"As if you don't know." Asami gumbled as she loosened the bandages to see what she was working with.

"Know what?" Shizuka's eyes widened and she grinned over her shoulder at Asami placed her hands on her back, the soothing healing chakra seeping into her body. "Did he ask you out?"

"I'm not talking about this with you."

"We didn't tell him to ask you out! If he did it was all his idea!" Shizuka defended, glancing over her shoulder as she watched Asami focus on her ribs. "We've only set up for you to run into each other, I promise."

"And that is meddling enough." Asami pinched the back of her arm before she moved around the bed to have better access to the stab wound.

A few minutes if silence passed as the blond continued her job and Shizuka allowed the medic to work.

"This might be a bother for a few days. It'll definitely scar."

"I figured. And my ribs?"

"Broken, I've healed them but they are still bruised." Asami gave her head a pat as the girl frowned. "Chakra bothering you?"

"Sensitivity sucks." Shizuka sniffed as the healing chakra faded. "It's more the feeling of foreign chakra in my body that throws me off, its disorienting."

"Any nausea?"

"No more than the usual when healing."

"Alright, I've healed the most of it, no training for the next few days. I'll give you some medication for pain to get you through the next few days. Feel free to start _light_ training when those are done."

Asami explained as she helped Shizuka wrap her torso in new bandages before moving back to the counter. As she collected the medication she had mentioned Shizuka went about putting her shirt and vest back on.

"Here you go." Handing the Tokujō the pills she watched as the girl put them in a pocket in her vest. "Take it easy, alright? And that doesn't mean you should have time to meddle with your Sensei's personal life."

"Thank you, Asami-San. Goodnight." Shizuka smiled and bowed her head at the woman as she left the room before walking towards her father who seemed to be sleeping in the hospital chair. "Tō-San, I'm done, let's go home."

"Hai." Shikaku sighed as he stood from the uncomfortable chair before wrapping an arm around his daughter's shoulder and giving it a light squeeze. "Next time, hospital first, social event later."

"But Shika-"

"Would have understood." He gave her another squeeze before dropping his arm from her shoulders and linking it with her own arm. "Now, tomorrow I want you to go to the Hokage's office with me and you will give a detailed oral report so that we can get started on the investigation before your written report."

"Alright, I'm assuming you'll call in Inoichi-Oji and Ibiki-San?" She asked as they walked outside into the fresh air.

"Hai, you won't be able to sleep in even if it is a day off, so I'll be sure to wake you, but you can head home after that, I'm sure Inoichi won't have any urgent news for you."

"What will happen then?"

"If there is a mole in the village this will be kept very quiet, we will have to reevaluate a couple of events and so on depending on what we find. A task force might be launched depending on the scale."

"So a nightmare for administration and intelligence."

"Pretty much." Shikaku shrugged, it wasn't a first for him and it was unlikely to be the last so he knew not to make assumptions just yet. "About your other _guest appearance_ , did he have any contact with anyone in the village?"

"No, if he did it was before we arrived." Shizuka said slowly, her eyes and tongue feeling heavy.

"Alright, I'll have more questions tomorrow, but you're starting to slur your words so the medication is probably kicking in." Shikaku's lips twitched into a smile as Shizuka leaned her head on his arm after tripping over her feet. "Come on, little fawn, we're almost home."

"You haven't called me that in years." Shizuka mumbled as she allowed her father to guide her towards their house, using his arm to steady herself.

Shikaku hummed as he felt Shizuka lean more of her weight on to his side, letting the rest of their walk continue to the fading sounds from the village nightlife.

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments!**

 **Candice:**

Again thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the story!

I enjoy writing their interactions so I'm excited for the following chapters :D Shikamaru and Shikaku are also fun to write.

Yup! I could have dragged the mission on for several chapters, but I didn't think the actual mission would add much more to where I'm planning on taking this story so it was more of a way to build Shizuka's reputation.

 **KooraX:**

Thank you! I agree, Genma needs more love XD I can't wait to write more about them, I do enjoy their dynamics.

She's still short for her age, so people would assume she's younger than what she is on the streets, so "cute" looks.

Her mask is not a squirrel, but you're on the right track!

 **CassieInTheDark:**

Thank you! I'm definitely happy with how the chapter developed.

 **prankster-at-heart**

Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying!

Nope, that's not the right answer. The next chapter has the last few clues before the answer is revealed in chapter 31 :)

 **Thanks for the comments! Looking forward to reading your responses!**

 **xx**


	30. Gossip

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Still only one correct guess on the mask. Remember this is the last week you will have to guess as the answer will be revealed at the end of the next chapter.**

 **The question of the week:**

 **What would be one event you'd be interested in seeing Shizuka interfere with directly?**

 **Thanks! And enjoy the chapter!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 30 - Gossip**

Shizuka walked into the flat after being let in by Aoba who greeted her cheerily and gestured to the kitchen for when she wanted to get a drink and then disappeared into the small crowd of people.

She had already met a lot of Raidō's friends as it turned out he was quite close to Genma, Hayate and their friends. This meant that she luckily knew quite a few people at the party.

She had spent the start of it talking with Yūgao and Hayate before she was dragged off by Raidō to be introduced to his Genin teammates.

"Asuma-San, nice to see you again." Shizuka greeted the man who was sat on the couch beside a pretty woman with black hair and red eyes.

"Ah, Shizuka-chan, good to see you again." The Sarutobi then turned to the woman and gestured to her. "Kurenai, this is Nara Shizuka, Shikamaru's sister. Shizuka this is Yūhi Kurenai."

"Nice to meet you, Shizuka-chan." Kurenai extended a hand which she shook.

"You too." Shizuka smiled and was about to continue the conversation before Raidō interrupted.

"You already knew Asuma? That's no fun..."

"He's my little brother's sensei."

"Is there anyone in this party you haven't met?"

"Uh…"

"Come on, next group."

Shizuka waved at the two Jōnin on the couch and was promptly dragged off by the birthday boy to be introduced to some Jōnin she had never met but vaguely recognized from the ANBU headquarters.

After being on Raidō's ANBU squad and being the youngest by a good couple of years she was 'adopted' as their little sister. The team teased her about her dates, trained with her and invited her out whenever they were off duty.

It always amused Shizuka that ANBU had the reputation of being stone cold assassins and yet she knew some of them were friendly and even funny when off duty. And therefore going out to watch said friendly assassins become drunk was definitely one of her hobbies.

After escaping Raidō's clutches she faded into the small crowd in the apartment and ended up running into some familiar faces. She found Aoba, Ibiki, Anko and Tonbo sitting together in the corner of the living room drinking and chatting while observing the party around them.

"Tiny! You made it!" Anko cheered as she pulled the shorter girl by the elbow towards where they were sitting.

"Hai, I got back early afternoon from my mission."

"Report in tomorrow at my office, that task force has been given priority."

"Shhh! Ibiki no work talk." Anko shushed him earning herself a narrow-eyed glare from the man who was still in his usual long black trench coat and uniform.

"Will do, now if you don't mind I'm going to get some fresh air."

"Still getting your senses overwhelmed?" Aoba pushed his glasses up his nose and leaned forward, "I thought we got past that."

"Well, being drunk loosens their control over their chakra and I am already tired from my mission, so my mental barrier could be better."

"You should probably work on that." Tonbo hummed thoughtfully before nodding over to Aoba, "We can work with you on your resistance at low energy levels sometime."

"That would be great, thank you. Now, excuse me." Shizuka smiled and snickered as Anko tried to hug her around the waist to keep her close.

"But Tiny, I miss you! I miss my experiment partner." She pouted and was then distracted by Aoba offering her a pocky stick while Tombo nodded towards the balcony discreetly while mouthing the words 'We have you covered.'.

Brushing her senses with his and Aoba's to convey her appreciation she slid open the glass door to the balcony and slipped outside. Leaning against the railing of the balcony she took a moment to watch and listen to the bustling of the street below and the party inside.

She was only alone for a few minutes before a familiar presence joined her.

"Nibbles! How is my favourite woodland creature?"

Shizuka glared at the man who leaned against the railing beside her.

"No? Fine, give me a few days to come up with another one." Genma laughed as his eyes darted towards the apartment as laughter suddenly broke out inside. "Why aren't you inside?"

"I'm too tired to keep a mental barrier up, so my senses are a bit off." Shizuka shrugged before nudging him with her shoulder, "What about you? Shouldn't you be in there?"

"Ah, it seemed peaceful out here, and you looked lonely."

Shizuka sent him a smile before she remembered something she had been carrying in her pocket.

"Ah, here, I found this on a mission a couple of weeks ago." She reached into the pocket inside her jacket and extended her arm with an open palm towards him, a small wooden figurine resting in the middle of her hand.

"A lynx figurine?" Genma raised his eyebrows as he plucked the wooden ornament from her hand and brought it closer to his eyes to look at the details. "What is this wood? It has a very distinctive smell."

"The tree grows only in the Nara forest, it was being smuggled out of Konoha. It's actually what got me to solve the case." She looked away at the grin blooming across his face. "Don't look at me like that!"

"Aw, were you thinking of me?"

"No!" Shizuka denied looking back down towards the street, her cheeks taking on a dusty pink tone. "It's your ANBU codename, so it reminded me of you."

"That's so sweet!" Genma cooed as he swung his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to his side. "Tell you what, I'll let you pick the next place we go out for food."

"It was already my turn to pick." Shizuka huffed but didn't complain as he tightened his side hug.

"Then you can pick on my turn. How does this next week sound?"

"If I don't get called on a mission, sure."

"Sounds like a date."

"What is this I hear about a date?" Raidō popped his head out into the balcony his eyebrows wiggling suggestively only to have his nose flicked by Shizuka as she walked back inside the party.

"Happy birthday, Grizzly, I'm calling it a night."

"It's still early, c-"

"I'm going too, goodnight mate." Genma waved the man over his shoulder as he walked down to catch up with the younger woman.

"You didn't have to leave, you know?"

"I was there before you, besides I have early guard duty tomorrow." He shrugged as they descended the stairs of the apartment block. "Have you heard about the possible two new recruits?"

"Hai, one is probably coming on to my squad. Is the other joining yours?"

"No, mine is full. They are probably joining Yūgao's squad." Genma shook his head and the pair turned into the main street only to hear whistling coming from above them.

"Your friends are idiots."

"I believe they are your friends too." Genma snickered as they glanced up to see Raidō and Anko smirking at them while Asuma and Kurenai laughed.

The pair shook their heads and continued on their way, the sound of the party fading into the background until they couldn't hear it any longer. Despite being late the nightlife was still busy and would stay open for at least a couple more hours until they closed shop.

"I wonder if Kaito will end up on my squad." Shizuka mused as they made their way down the street. "Although Shun might make more sense for the squad."

"Why do you think that?"

"Kaito is good at infiltration but he wouldn't add much to the team compared to Shun who with his kikaichū would be ideal for surveillance and covering the retreat."

"It will also depend on how they perform in the trials. Speaking of which, aren't you supposed to help in one of them?"

"Yes, I get to be one of the chasers in one. And in the sensory part too."

"I'll be helping in the sensory one too. How do you think they will do?"

"I think they'll both pass, I had been training with them but recently stopped because of a high quantity of missions."

Genma hummed as they turned into the residential street. Shizuka didn't even react as they once again passed Genma's apartment block and continued on their way to the Nara compound.

"There is a new dumpling restaurant that opened up close to Ichiraku, have you been yet?"

"When did that happen?" Shizuka gave him a surprised look. "I haven't even heard there was a new dumpling restaurant opening up."

"I walked past an advertisement the other day." Genma shrugged as he held the gate to the compound open for her to pass through. "I was planning on checking it out tomorrow for lunch."

"Is that an invitation?" Shizuka glanced at him through the corner of her eyes, watching as the senbon in his mouth flickered up and down a few times before he responded.

"Yeah, what do you think?"

"I think it sounds like a plan." Shizuka turned her head and grinned at him, which he returned with a smile of his own.

"Great! I'm released from guard duty at noon, anywhere you'd like to meet?"

"I'll be at the Intelligence building so I'll meet you outside the Hokage building a quarter past."

"That's perfect."

"Thank you, Genma." Shizuka smiled softly at him as she stepped up to her house.

"Goodnight, Shizuka." Genma smiled although the connection was lost as his eyes darted upwards along the front of her house.

' _Seriously…'_ Shizuka sighed as she brushed her senses against that of her father's and pushed slightly against it letting him know she knew he was watching. She then took a step back down the small step of her porch and kissed the Tokujō's cheek.

Offering him a small smirk at his wide eyes and the pink dusting his cheek as his eyes flashed to the window of what she knew to be her parent's bedroom she shook her head and stepped back onto the porch.

"Goodnight, Genma."

The man nodded slowly before he smiled and shook his shock off, and turned back to the path leading out of the compound. Shizuka watched him disappear down the path before she moved inside to remove her shoes and head to bed.

* * *

The next day, the Ino-Shika-Chō clan heads meet up for their regular lunch meeting, where their conversations usually range from work to family. This week the first topic to be brought up was something that Inoichi and Chōza had just been itching to question their teammate about.

"So Shizuka-chan has a boyfriend, hm?" Chōza finally asked as they sat at their usual table in the barbecue restaurant.

Shikaku huffed and downed his cup of sake earning himself amused stare from his teammates who were visibly trying not to laugh.

"So who has captured the attention of our dearest little trouble magnet?" Chōza questioned again, seeing as Inoichi would just burst into hysterics if he tried to speak.

"Shiranui Genma. Technically she's just been out with him, they haven't made it official as far as I know." Shikaku poured himself another drink. " _And_ she's only seventeen. She doesn't need a boyfriend."

"Genma, really?" Chōza laughed as Shikaku revealed who Shizuka's love interest was. "Come on, Shikaku, it could be much worse."

"Nine years her senior. _Nine years."_

"She's been a Tokujō for over a year and you're worried about a boy? Ino has been all over Sasuke and she's twelve." The Akimichi clan head commented, causing both of his teammates to scowl at him. "Come on Shikaku, Genma is a good one. Everyone loves working with him."

"He's a little biased being his sensei and all. But he's right. Besides, isn't she happy?" Inoichi prompted, ignoring the Nara's scowl as he no doubt figured out where this line of questioning was going to lead.

"Then what exactly is the issue?" Chōza continued just as the food arrived at their table.

"What does Yoshino think about it?" Inoichi prodded further as he placed some food on the grill.

"She loves him. Apparently, they ran into him at the market and he offered to carry everything for them." Shikaku grumbled, "He then stayed for tea and helped clean up the kitchen, then they talked for hours before he left _minutes_ before I arrived."

This brought Chōza and Inoichi to laugh for a few moments before Chōza decided to poke some more fun at his old comrade.

"He's laying it on thick. I'll bet you the next step is Shikamaru."

"Which means her friends and sensei already know. Wonder how long its been going on for. What do you reckon, Chōza?" Inoichi jumped in, the two of them leaning in as if about to launch into a discussion about their friend's daughter's love life.

"Shut up." Shikaku grumbled as he flipped the meat on the grill. The silence stretched out for a few moments, the only sound was that of the sizzling meat and vegetables on the grill.

"You know Chōji had a crush on her, right? He idolised her when he was a toddler. Now she's his big sister but he still blushes when she kisses his cheek. It's adorable, really." Chōza snickered as his companions shook their heads fondly. It was no secret their kids were all close, despite Shizuka being a few years older.

"She's a wonderful role model for them. Though I wish she would help with the Ino and boys situation." Inoichi chuckled behind the rim of his glass as Shikaku slumped further into his seat.

"In any case, Shikaku, I'm here to help with the shovel talk if you ever need a helping hand. Just don't tell Shizuka and Yoshino." Inoichi's eyes brightened and Shikaku just _knew_ he was going to say something ridiculous. "They frighten us way more than you ever could."

He clinked glasses with Chōza as the Nara's head just fell backwards, a mumbled curse leaving his lips.

"I'll sit this one out, though I can't deny that I'm counting the days until he shows at my house asking for help against you." Chōza leaned in conspiratorially, mirth shining in his eyes.

"Ouch, Chōza you're picking your Genin over our dear life long friend?" Inoichi whistled, almost cackling with glee as Shikaku glared at them.

"As Shizuka's godfather, I approve of Genma. He's got a good head on his shoulders and he can keep up with your little shadow." Chōza grinned at his friend before sipping his sake.

"Ah, I miss the days she would just follow _us_ around." Shikaku grumbled as he looked down at the grill. "All our kids are officially shinobi now. Adults in the eyes of the village. Where has all that time gone…"

"Don't pout Shika, it doesn't fit your image." Inoichi snorted as he reached for some grilled vegetables.

"Yes, we still have much to do and their time is just starting." Chōza smiled as he dug into the spread of food in front of him.

The three shared a smile at the thought and then switched topics to other news that had been floating around the village. Inoichi was more than happy to fill the other two in on what gossip he had heard recently.

* * *

At the same time as the three clan heads had lunch, their wives had met up at the Nara household for their own meetup. The women were all retired Chūnin and occasionally used that time to keep their skills polished, but nearly always it involved talking about what was happening around town.

"So, Yoshino, what was that about Shizuka having a boyfriend?" Yamanaka Akira questioned as they waited for their food to finish cooking.

"Well, she hasn't called him that just yet." Yoshino said as she pulled the plates from the cupboard to set the table for the three of them. "But I'd say it's only a matter of time before she does."

"You make it sound as if she's laying the groundwork for that." Akira commented as she reached for the cups.

"She probably is!" Miku teased as she stirred the soup on the stove, "She'll probably tackle telling each person individually, Shikaku will likely be the last."

"That _does_ sound like her, but I'm saying that because I don't think she's realised what's happening." Yoshino smiled softly as she spoke. "She's claiming he's just a _friend_ who she happens to enjoy talking to and they have been out together, but always with other people around."

"He was a sweet kid, quiet but always friendly." Miku hummed as she thought back on her husband's old team. "He's a good balance for her."

"Funny, that's exactly what I thought." Yoshino snickered as her two friends' heads snapped towards her. "I met him the other day, he came over for tea."

Miku placed the food on the table and gave Yoshino an expectant look while Akira sat down at the table.

"Shizuka and I were doing the shopping for dinner and he was on a day off after a patrol rotation." The three women all settled around the table as they proceeded to make their plates. "He saw Shizuka and greeted her and only then noticed I was there, so he helped us carry our bags back here."

"And then stayed for lunch?" Akira raised her eyebrow as she watched Yoshino try to hold in her laughter.

"After much insistence from my part."

"Of course." Akira nodded her head seriously a smirk spreading across on her face.

They shared a smile and then swapped topics to their own duties to their clans, exchanging suggestions and opinions on some queries from members of their clans. They also finalised the plans for the coming barbeque in the next month.

They didn't move from the kitchen and continued sitting at the table some tea and biscuits Akira had baked earlier that day. An hour after they had finished eating they heard the front door opening and closing and Shizuka's voice announcing her arrival.

"Ah, Shizuka-chan! How are you?" Miku grinned at her goddaughter who raised her eyebrows at the sight of the three smiling women at the table.

"Good afternoon, Ka-San, Miku-Oba, Akira-Oba." Shizuka stepped cautiously into the kitchen. "How was your lunch?"

"Enlightening." Akira teased as she huffed a laugh as the young Nara's eyes narrowed on her mother who shrugged innocently.

"Do you think Genma-kun can attend the next barbeque?" Miku questioned as she sipped her tea.

The three women laughed as Shizuka's head snapped to the Akimichi her jaw dropped.

"Miku-Oba!" She flushed a pretty shade of pink and shook her head before rushing out of the room. "I have a patrol rotation. Bye!"

"You must keep us updated." Akira gushed a few minutes later when they heard the front door close again.

* * *

Shizuka returned home from the patrol a couple of days later. After reporting in with the ANBU commander she arrived home just in type for dinner.

"Tadaima!" Shizuka called as she pulled her boots off in the little entrance hall.

"Okaeri, darling. Dinner is nearly ready, your father just got back from the office." Her mother popped her head into the hall and smiled at her, "Why don't you get a quick shower and join us for dinner if you aren't feeling too tired."

"Sounds good." Shizuka stood from the step and moved to her bedroom waving at her brother who was playing shogi with Asuma in the back porch. "Asuma-San, otouto, good evening."

"Nee-san, welcome back." Shikamaru glanced up at her before moving a piece on the board and snickered at Asuma. "I believe this game is mine."

"It would seem so." Asuma sighed as he stood, "Shizuka good to see you're back, maybe you should play with your brother to keep him from destroying me."

"Ah, he's nearly gotten me a couple of times. I'm afraid Tō-San will soon be the only one able to knock him down." Shizuka laughed as they moved back into the living room.

"I still haven't actually won, you're good at turning the tables." Shikamaru grumbled as his sister made her way to the hallway where their rooms were. "I'll see you at training tomorrow, Asuma-Sensei."

"I do have five years on you, little brother. Give it a little time and I'm sure you'll start beating me most of the time. "

"Alright, see you tomorrow, Shikamaru. Shizuka, I'll see you around." Asuma sent her a knowing look at which she just shook her head and waved him off.

Shizuka rushed to her bedroom to grab clean clothes as she noticed her father making his way into the living room. Giving him a peck on the cheek and a greeting as she brushed past him in the hallway.

Knowing she didn't have long until dinner was served she didn't stall in her routine and went through it quickly. Leaving her hair tumbling down in their usual waves she moved to the kitchen and sat next to her brother at her usual seat.

"Thank you for waiting." Shizuka smiled as her family then started making their plates. "So, Shika, how has training been with team ten?"

"Troublesome, but Asuma is nice and it's not like we have that many issues with teamwork."

"And the other teams? I've heard some interesting things about Kakashi-Senpai's team." Shizuka commented as she put some salad on her plate.

"The doom team: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto. As different from each other as you can get in terms of personality."

"Sounds like an interesting team." Shizuka snorted and sent her father a look. "Poor Kakashi-Senpai he's guaranteed an interesting year."

Shikaku shook his head and gave her an amused look which earned him a curious look from Shikamaru.

"Funny, that's what I thought when your father told me what team you would be on." Yoshino commented as she passed the rice over to Shikaku.

"Well, from what I hear, their team is on a whole other level of conflict."

"You have no idea." Shikamaru deadpanned causing all of them to laugh at the expression on his face.

Their laughter was interrupted by a knock on the door. Before Shizuka could comment on who was at the door her father was already moving into the hall only to return moments later.

"Shizuka, it's for you." Shikaku returned to the kitchen with a grey scroll in hand.

"Must be an emergency since you just got back." Yoshino commented as Shikaku tossed his daughter the scroll who quickly opened it to scan its contents.

"Doesn't seem too urgent, the departure time is only tomorrow at dawn." Shizuka rolled the message again and set it aside. "I should be back in two weeks too, which means I'll be back for the trials of the two initiates."

Her father snorted at the grin that spread across her lips while Shikamaru and Yoshino looked slightly confused.

"Don't be too harsh on them, it wouldn't be fair."

"When am I not fair?" Shizuka teased sending her brother a wink.

"When you play shogi."

"Only if I'm distracted." Shizuka defended as her family laughed and they returned to their dinner while talking about their week.

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments:**

 **SeungJiYeon**

Thank you! I'm enjoying reading your thoughts as you read along :D I'm glad you are enjoying the story!

 **Whitney1995**

Thank you so so much!

Both good guesses, but neither are right. These are the last few hints before it is revealed next chapter! Good luck!

 **NotRob**

Closer to Asuma, though not quite at his level during the Naruto timeline. I did a basic sketch of her stat points based around other character's and she's just about Kurenai's level.

I'm glad you're enjoying the story!

 **kankananime123**

It's not a mouse, but you aren't too far off :D It is a small animal though! Think woodland creature ;P This is the last week to guess :D

 **Nella-mangalover93**

Hahaha yeah, can't wait until they meet face to face again. That will be fun to write.

Hahahahah that would be funny. We'll see what I can do ;P

That IS a fun sequence. I've got it pretty much planned out already. There will be a little bit of everything during that arc.

 **pigs103**

Thank you! I sometimes struggle to write the missions, they are definitely what takes the longest, just because I have to be continuously reading over it to make sure it makes sense.

 **Candice**

Hey again! Thank you! That's very sweet of you to say :D I do enjoy writing about the relationships just because it makes it easier to then go on to show how she influences the story rather than just say she affected it.

Oh yes…. That arc xD Well you'll just have to wait and see! I can say that for nearly everything that will differ from canon there will be hints about what will happen. ;P

 **Thanks for the comments! I enjoy reading your comments**

 **xx**


	31. Effectiveness

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Sorry for the delay! I've had two incredibly busy weeks for uni and barely got any writing done in that period. I am entering exam season,** **therefore updating might only happen two or three times until the end of May.**

 **On my decision for choosing her mask (revealed at the end of the chapter): they are fast and agile, hard-working but still playful and they are thought to bring fortune in luck in some cultures. I thought it was a rather good fit :D**

 **Speaking of the mask, congratulations to the following people who guessed it correctly from Chapter 30: Whitney1995, Leannn, Skyler1510, prankster-at-heart, Arkytior's Song and one of the guests!**

 **Thanks! And Enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 31 - Effectiveness**

The next morning Shizuka met up with Cat, Grizzly and Ape at one of the ANBU guarded gates. It was located just past the normal public gates in a dense patch of the forest, its secrecy was to allow ANBU to come and go unseen by everyone else.

"Investigation and elimination of a corrupt politician." Cat-Taichō explained as they launched into the trees. "We will be crossing the border with Grass and will be close to Iwa, therefore extreme caution will be necessary."

"Where did the information come from?" Shizuka asked from the flank of the formation, with Grizzly and Ape just ahead of her to each side.

"How will we infiltrate?" Ape asked at the same time the two youngest members of the team turned to glance at each other as they continued at the fast pace of their unit.

"There is an event happening in a local Lord's residence, and our target is set to attend. The Lord of the city, Lord Hoga, requested the investigation, but recently found evidence himself."

"So he has jumped ahead and ordered an assassination."

"Hai." Cat sighed as Shizuka hummed in interest and then continued speaking, already predicting what her next questions were going to be. "Because of the trade alliance we have with Grass we must ensure the accusations are true before we act, which is why we will use the party as a cover story."

"Cover story? You don't mean-"

"Bear and I will investigate from the shadows. Meanwhile, you will attend the party as a civilian guest, the daughter of a merchant from the south of the Land of Fire and Ape is your bodyguard."

"You have got to be kidding me." Shizuka deadpanned, her pout hidden behind the mask.

"Wait, why are we splitting up so much?" Ape questioned, his eyes flickering between Shizuka and their captain.

"To get all sides of the story." Shizuka explained. "I can get information from the party guests, you can get information from the servants while Grizzly and Taichō get to sneak into rooms and archives and do our normal job."

"That sums it up perfectly." Cat complimented before he let himself fall closer to the centre of the formation. "We will discuss backstories once we settle in, and it would be ideal to make final adjustments to our chakra concealment techniques."

"Hai, I can supply some pointers and better ways to fit in with civilians instead of the simple concealment." Shizuka easily agreed, her mind already flying through the possibilities.

Cat-Taichō hummed in agreement and retook his position just ahead of Bear and Ape, allowing the team to proceed in silence for the rest of their one day journey.

* * *

The group arrived outside the gates of Kurimaki village a couple of hours before dinner. As soon as they were an hour from the gates, Shizuka and Ape changed into their "characters".

While Cat and Bear continued with their journey via tree tops, the other two remained on the ground and waited for their contact who was to meet them on the road.

They didn't wait for longer than half an hour until a couple of signatures entered Shizuka's range.

' _Two civilians and one shinobi. Four miles out. Probably our contact.'_ Shizuka signed to Naoki who nodded in acceptance and they both moved into the tree tops, concealing their chakra as they waited for the group to arrive.

Once the carriage passed them, Naoki made a hooting sound, to which the man who was walking alongside the carriage responded with a soft tap at the carriage door.

"My Lord, we are almost to our destination."

"Ah, good." Shizuka heard some shuffling around the carriage before the man stuck his head out. "Where are they?"

The man sighed and looked up to the tree where he had heard the hooting from.

"They hide amongst their namesake."

Sharing a look with Naoki they jumped down, landing in a crouched position by the tree they had been perched on.

"Lord Nakada, thank you for your cooperation." Naoki handed the bodyguard, Isoroku, the scroll with a message for the Lord.

Isoroku read over the missive and passed it on to lord Naka who read it over and nodded before opening the carriage.

"Come in, dear, I shall brief you on who you shall meet on the way. Isoruko, do answer any questions the man has."

"Yes, my lord." Isoroku gestured for Naoki to fall into step with him just behind the carriage while Shizuka entered the small wooden compartment.

Inside she was greeted with a variety of scrolls and pictures.

"I was requested to put compile what I knew of who was attending the party to inform you." The lord explained at her raised eyebrow. "Lord Jiraiya saved me on a mission many years ago and I have since become an informant for him."

"Ah, I see." Shizuka hummed as she picked up the first scroll. "And he knew I was coming?"

"I believe someone told him of a young kunoichi making a name for herself in the infiltration field. With his new... _profession_ he wanted someone else to have access to some of his contacts for easier delivery of information."

"And I'm assuming my Taichō, the Hokage, the head of Intelligence and possibly even my father are aware of this?" The Nara let out a dry snort as she glanced through the list of people attending the event.

"Wouldn't you say having a central pin to a network such as this in Konoha more beneficial? You have after all been involved in quite a few task forces."

Shizuka raised her eyebrow at the knowing look on the man's face. The man must have been a few years older than her father, as his hair had more grey in it, but other than the crinkle at the corner of his brown eyes nothing else showcased that difference.

"So, he's basically offering soe of his own contact so that the process of passing on information is simpler and allowing cases to be handled faster. Which means I'm doing part of the paperwork he was supposed to, giving him more time to write erotica novels." She deadpanned again, making the man's lips twitch into a small smile.

"That does indeed sound like Jiraiya-sama."

"Wonderful." Shizuka sarcastic tone drew a chuckle from the man, leaving her to focus back on her reading.

"My my, that isn't how a young lady should respond to her father." The man gently teased, another chuckle leaving him as Shizuka lightly glared over the edge of the scroll she was reading. "Now, I believe you have some homework to finish."

Shizuka's eye twitched but she didn't comment and instead focused on the load of paperwork she had to get through before the event two days from then.

* * *

They were staying at a high-end hotel close to the palace. When she first woke up on the morning the day after they arrived in town, she almost expected the image of the rundown inns she normally stayed in for missions. Instead, she was greeted by polished hardwood floor, a plush mattress and soft sheets.

' _Better not get used to this.'_ Shizuka sighed as she lazily stretched and moved to the small entrance hall of her room where Naoki was sleeping on the mattress provided bodyguards of the hotel's clients.

"Don't you look comfy." Shizuka teased as Naoki groaned and looked up at her from his position. "You know the bed is large enough for almost four people, it's not like we haven't slept close on the same mattress before."

"Yeah, but that was because we were in the Snow country and if we didn't share the sleeping bag we would have frozen. Besides, that was also before you and Lynx became a thing."

"Genma and I aren't a _thing._ " Shizuka groaned as she yanked the pillow from under Naoki's head and swatted it at him. "Now, get up! I was invited to attend a brunch at the palace with some of the women attending the gala. You will then be able to talk with the other bodyguards and even some palace staff."

"How are you supposed to act like a lady in there? You're a cruel little thing."

Shizuka scowled at him and threw the pillow at his head before turning on her heel and reaching into the trunk her 'father' had provided with several outfits for her to use.

She slipped into the attached bathroom and made herself presentable. As she finished applying her makeup she heard Naoki knocking on the door.

"You're going to be late."

"Fine. I'm done." Shizuka slipped out and scowled at Naoki's surprised expression.

"Don't you look _adorable_ all dressed up." He reached over and gave her head a gentle pat, careful not to ruin the crown braid she had made.

"Shut up and get ready." Shizuka grumbled and ducked under his arm to gather the small bag she would carry with her and slipped a senbon into her sleeves, attaching it to the fabric with a safety pin and a band.

By the time she had ensured she could reach it without interference from the fabric and that it didn't weigh down the sleeve too noticeably Naoki had finished in the bathroom. He was wearing a simple tunic and pant with a sword clipped to his belt and no doubt a couple of other weapons hidden on his person.

"Let's go, gossip central awaits." He gave a low bow as he held the door open for her, snorting as she flicked his head as she walked past.

Their teasing evaporated the moment they entered the hotel lobby, their masks of lady and bodyguard falling smoothly into place.

During the walk to the palace, Naoki walked a couple of paces behind her as they made their way through the crowded streets of the city. And once they reached the entrance gate to the palace they were greeted by two guards who checked them over before allowing them into the compound.

They were greeted at the doors by a maid and another guard.

"Good morning, my lady. The brunch is to take place at the southern balcony, your guard will be allowed into the lower quarters, just further down the corridor from where you will be. Goro will take you there."

"Thank you." Shizuka gave the maid a shy smile before she moved to follow the guard through the hallways towards the balcony. "Kenji, I will meet you back here once brunch is over."

"Hai, my lady." Naoki nodded before he turned to the guard who led them. "I assume there will be other guards close to the balcony?"

"The ladies will be safe in the balcony."

Shizuka glanced at Naoki from the corner of her eye and saw the man roll his eyes at the bland response. He didn't have time to prod any further as they had reached their destination and Goro held open the door to the brightly lit balcony for Shizuka to enter.

"Oh, hello, dear." A light blond haired woman approached Shizuka at the door, her lips twisted into a sweet smile. "Are you here for the ladies' brunch?"

"Hai. I hope I am not too late?"

"Oh, no! You are just in time, we were about to be seated. I'm Chō, Lord Hoga's wife. Tell me, dear, what is your name?"

"Nakada Natsumi, my father is Nakada Takai."

"Oh! The artwork merchant! I do love his work, we have a few of his paintings around the palace. Do you paint?" The woman led her over to where the other people were sitting and noticing with a bit of exasperation that they had all stopped their conversations to listen to her answer.

"Hai, father taught me early on. He says I have my mother's talent." Shizuka repressed the urge to roll her eyes as the group of women cooed at her apparent shyness.

Shizuka took a moment to observe the five women carefully. She knew from the guest list and from what Takai had told her that three of them were married to lords and two were married to important merchants.

She was the youngest of the group by at least a decade from what their profiles said, which meant they would underestimate her. And she was the daughter that was kept a secret so that she could have a 'normal childhood' which also meant she would have some leeway into what details she wanted to add to her backstory.

The group of women moved their conversation to the round table at the centre of the balcony where servants were revealing the food for them. A wide variety of foreign pastries and small individual bowls of rice at each seat. Alongside it all were trays overflowing with fruits and a couple of teapots around the table for them to pour themselves.

During the entire morning Shizuka had to sit and giggle about stories the women were telling of their younger years, had to listen to their gloating and underhanded insults of their husbands and lives.

' _So boring…'_ Shizuka sighed as she passed on the little plate of lemon cakes to Lady Chō to her right. _'All I can really gauge from them is relationships between these five lords and their public dealings.'_

Although this was far from her typical behaviour, she was still the daughter of a clan head and her early interest in infiltration allowed for her to fall into character easily. The brunch also let her get a good feel on what the atmosphere of the gala the following day would be like.

Two full hours after she arrived, the ladies were starting to leave to return to wherever they were staying for the duration of the events. Having not found anything worthy of further prodding from the women she had a maid summon her bodyguard from where he was waiting.

She waited inside the balcony talking lowly to Lady Chō about the paintings her father had brought along for a silent auction that was to happen during the gala. Luckily for her, a knock came not five minutes into the conversation.

"Lady Nakada, are you ready to leave?" Kenji called as he opened the door slightly, pushing it open further as she nodded and bid the lady of the palace goodby.

The pair moved silently through the hall and left the palace heading in the direction of their hotel.

"My lady, your father left painting supplies at reception, if you wish to have them delivered to your room."

"Yes, that is a good idea." Shizuka sent a small smile in the direction of her bodyguard. "If you wish, you may roam the markets to your content as I paint."

"I will think about it, my lady." Kenji nodded and stepped to the reception desk, requesting that the painting supplies be brought up to the room.

Inside the room, they waited for two minutes before a knock sounded announcing the arrival of to hotel workers bringing in the easel, canvas and paint box.

Tenzō created two wood clones in the image of the workers and sent them out while Raidō slapped some privacy seals on the walls before giving the others the all clear.

"God I hate these clothes." Shizuka groaned as she undid her upper layers of the kimono and disappeared into the bathroom to wrap a simple cotton robe around her slip. "Please tell me they found something more than petty arguments between families."

"I had a look at the rooms of the people from the brunch, the target's wife isn't attending after all. Those people have been cleared, nothing of interest in their own dealings." Raidō supplied as he slumped back into Shizuka's bed. "Man, you definitely got a good deal on this mission."

"Would you enjoy spending two hours gossiping and insulting other people to make yourself feel better about your life?" Shizuka sat by the table where Tenzō had put a pile of notes he had written. "What are these?"

"What I heard from the men's equivalent to a brunch. Cigars, drinks and cards." Tenzō replied pulling a couple of the sheets to the top of the pile. "These caught my attention can you connect them to what the women said?"

"Yeah, do you have a pen? I can make notes with what I found." Shizuka smiled up at their captain who nudged some writing supplies in her direction. "What about you, Naoki?"

"The bodyguards also know of the tensions between their clients, but they mainly just complained their charges are too spoiled."

"And the servants? Did you get the chance to talk to any of them?"

"Yeah, the cooks and maids working in the kitchen, where we were staying, complained the town is short on some ingredients because of the falling outs of the merchants."

"Alright, so I suppose whatever problems are arising are with the merchants. Perhaps the two lords are competing for the monopoly of one trading company?" Shizuka suggested as she passed the papers back to Tenzō who glanced over them before sealing them into a small scroll he had inside his uniform.

"It does seem to be leaning to that. Raidō and I will investigate the merchants guild. You and Naoki should head out to the market and have a look around the stalls from the groups I mentioned in the notes."

"Hai."

The team pulled down the privacy seals and waited for Cat's clones to come in to clean the room and change the sheets so that they could again switch places. As they did that, Shizuka and Naoki left the hotel again for further investigation of the market.

* * *

The afternoon after brunch and the morning before the ball were useless from her point. She pinpointed the merchant that was smack middle of the conflict easily enough. Some seeds from the Fire and Earth countries weren't being sold to Lord Hoga's town because Lord Fukui was running interference and selling it to someone else. But without seeing the logs and shipments she couldn't get any solid proof, therefore she had to relay her findings to Cat and Bear to narrow their search.

Luckily for them, they managed to get enough proof before the gala, and all they had to do was slip a poisoned needle into the corrupt Lord Fukui's body and let him die during the night of 'natural' causes.

And now nearly two hours into the gala and their target had yet to show up. Which is why Shizuka was forced to hold a conversation with the people attending the event, her 'father' introducing her and holding most of the conversations, allowing her to observe their body language and gather some information of her own.

She was eventually dragged away from her fake father by Lady Chō, who had been charmed by her personality the previous day and thus had deemed her worthy of introduction to other socialites that had arrived.

Things got slightly more interesting then, when the women introduced her to their sons, dropping rather obvious hints to the young men to invite her to dance but they were too dense to notice. Instead, she offered shy smiles and fluttered her eyelashes to get them to talk about their family business.

She could practically _feel_ the looks she was receiving from the men and some of the women as she flitted about holding conversations and little pleased smiles as she was complimented.

Once she grew tired of her character she moved to her father who had also secluded himself to one of the tables to sit and talk in low tones, their eyes still roaming the hall to keep an eye out for their target.

While looking at the hall ahead, she completely forgot the groups of tables behind her where others had settled to eat and talk away from the bustle of the dance floor and buffet table.

"Lady Nakada, would you honour me with a dance?" A deep voice sounded from behind her.

Shizuka spun around in her seat to see a man with navy blue hair, so dark she would have called it black if the lights from the chandeliers hadn't been shining on his head. His hair was slightly long and held together at the base of his neck, his eyes were also a pretty blue, the colour of the water of the lake back at home.

' _It's the man that had been observing me earlier from the corner.'_ Shizuka noticed once she finished her inspection of the man, allowing a shy smile to play on her lips as she reached for his extended hand.

"Please lead the way, sir."

The man led her to the dance floor and they melted into the crowd of people. It didn't escape her notice that he kept her just out of sight of her father, but not from where she could sense Naoki along the wall of the ballroom.

' _Interesting. A civilian too.'_ Shizuka observed the man's steps and was pleasantly surprised he could follow through with the increasingly intricate steps of the dance without stumbling.

She went through the events of the night to be able to connect him with any of the possible people at the ball.

"I arrived late. You caught my attention from the moment I saw you." Shizuka resisted the urge to knock the man out and hand him over to one of her teammates for questioning. "Now, where are my manners. I'm Gōrudo, and I have a proposition for you."

Before she could answer she was twirled away from him and onto another man for the next sequence of steps. She used the opportunity of being twirled around the dance floor to keep an eye on the blue haired man as well as trying to catch Naoki's eye.

Before she could signal her teammate, she was back with her original partner.

"I've seen the way you interact with people. You have this aura that makes people trust you." He pulled her closer as the floor became more crowded. "I have use for people of your _talents_ in my close circle."

"And what would you have me use these talents for?"

"Gathering information. I don't like being underprepared for business deals."

"And what do I get in return? My father's work provides enough."

"I'm rather flexible with payment, information, clients for your father, cash, take your pick."

"I should talk to my father." Shizuka used the end of the song to her advantage. "Thank you for the dance, perhaps we will see each other again."

"My lady." The man gave her a shallow bow and disappeared again to the corner of the room, probably to continue observing the event.

' _Interesting fellow. To be able to sneak into the palace unnoticed.'_ Shizuka smirked, thinking about the offer. _'If he has a large network, he would be an interesting contact to make.'_

Before she could deliberate further something more interesting, and concerning, caught her attention.

' _Shinobi. Three. And strong.'_ Cursing her luck she spun around to signal Naoki, only to see Gōrudo appear next to her, blocking her view of her teammate.

"Gōrudo-San, I was just about to go back to my father."

"Perhaps I'll walk you there, there is something brewing in the shadows." He linked his arm with hers and walked with her towards where Takai had moved to. "Don't worry dear, I'm sure the hidden shinobi will deal with any issues."

"Shinobi? Here?"

"Two teams from two nations if I am to believe my little shades."

"Oh, how exciting." Shizuka mumbled, her senses flaring and pinpointing one shinobi moving towards Lord Hoga. "Father! I'm rather tired, perhaps we should thank Lord Hoga and depart? We are leaving rather early tomorrow."

To his credit, Takai didn't even flinch at her rapid change of plan from what he had been briefed on before the gala, and instead, he thanked Gōrudo for bringing his daughter to him before locating Lord Hoga in the crowd.

"Let us go then." Takai offered her his arm and they made a swift move towards the Lord and his wife, whispering to Shizuka once they were closer to the louder part of the room, knowing he wouldn't be overheard. "What's going on?"

"Assassination attempt on Lord Hoga, don't know who sent them." Shizuka answered as she tugged at the poisoned needle in her sleeve and sticking it under the bracelet on her wrist to allow for an easy draw.

' _Dammit, I haven't even sighted our target yet.'_ She sighed as she braced herself for her next move.

Just as the enemy shinobi was a step in front of her and a meter away from Lord Hoga, Shizuka pretended to stumble on the hem of her kimono and let go of her father's arm in order to brace herself on the stranger in front of her.

The needle under her wrist poked out just enough to pierce the man's bicep as she clasped her hands around the muscle to stop her from falling.

"Natsumi-chan, are you alright?" Her father was quick to help her right herself, "If you were so tired we could have retired a while ago, my dear."

"Sorry father, I know how much these events mean to you." Shizuka shuffled on her feet before turning to the man in front of her who was already showing signs of the fast acting poison. "I'm very sorry, sir. It seems like my sense of balance has gone out the window with the late hour."

"Oh, no harm was done, Natsumi-chan." Lady Chō was quick to interfere, offering the younger girl a kind smile. "We thank you for coming tonight, your paintings were a success in the auction."

"Yes, yes! Such talent!" Lord Hoga grinned, his hand already waving at the people who had stopped to watch the commotion away. "Thank you for coming, Takai-San. Now sit, are you alright? Huh? Where has he gone?"

Shizuka didn't answer and let Takai lead her away from the crowd and towards the exit of the hall. Just as they were about to leave, someone called Takai's name and gestured him over for a chat.

"Go, I'll be outside." Shizuka gave his arm a pat and left the hall, moving so that she was to the side of the doors, close to the stairs leading to the upper galleries.

She waited for a few minutes until someone approached her from behind. As soon as the person was within her range she spun around and jabbed her senbon into the arm reaching for her neck.

Catching sight of the man's Iwa hitai-ate she ducked the second arm making a grab for her arm and grabbed the second hidden senbon from the inside of her obi and jabbed it into the man's jugular.

"Now, I can't really say I'm very surprised that you are a kunoichi. You were entirely too graceful in your little stumble." The familiar deep voice of Gōrudo sounded from the doorway to the hall.

"Don't move. Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now?"

"Because my proposition still stands, even if I got your profession wrong at first."

"Explain. Now." Shizuka growled, her eyes darting to the hall behind him and then to the stairs leading up to the galleries. "Come on, we are too open here."

She bent down and dragged the body up the stairs, stuffing it inside a cabinet and jamming the lock with one of her needles.

"I run a network called the Spectrum. I am a merchant and as I said I don't like being unprepared for business meetings." He gave her a knowing look. "I must say, you caught me b surprise, I didn't expect to run into a kunoichi of the Leaf."

"The deal, what do I get from it? I told you cash is useless."

"Information then. You shinobi are a paranoid bunch, you like to know of everything that is happening around you. I can help. I have access to a wide range of sources."

"And your price?"

"Information." The man raised his hand as Shizuka glared at him, her fingers twitching around the senbon. "Nothing to endanger your village, but for the protection of my people. I assure you, we don't deal with anything on the darker side of the criminal spectra."

"And I'm supposed to take your word for it?"

"Don't worry, kunoichi-chan." The man chuckled. "I expect you to have your doubts, perhaps your _father_ could supply some answers? I'm sure he has heard of my little group."

"And then, how will I contact you?"

"There is an art shop in Konoha, it sells specially imported paints. Give the following order when you are ready: A recurring supply of Akarui Gōrudo. I will then know you have accepted."

"Bright, huh?" Shizuka shook her head and tucked the senbon back into her sleeves. "I assume I can pick up my _order_ at the same shop?"

"Indeed. Everyone is codenamed a colour, so I expect to hear from you, Akarui, soon. If you accept I shall provide you with the rest of the code we use for contact."

Shizuka nodded and the man turned back down the stairs and she tracked his signature until he left the palace.

' _Now, I should probably get Naoki to dispose of the body while I meet up with Takai.'_ Sighing again she made her way down the stairs where she waited for a few moments until Naoki appeared with Takai.

"There you are, my dear. Sorry for the wait, shall we return to the hotel?"

"Yes, please." Shizuka stepped to Takai's side and signalled for Naoki's attention.

" _Body. Cabinet upstairs. Iwa."_

Naoki gave her a look but nodded and disappeared up the stairs as she and Takai made their way out of the palace.

Isoroku, Takai's bodyguard met them at the entrance of the palace and walked with them to the hotel, his eyes continuously scanning the streets ahead for any other threats.

The young Nara bid them goodnight and went straight to the bathroom to change into sweatpants and a soft shirt, taking her time to unpin her hair from the braids she had made and wiping the makeup from her face. By the time she finished getting ready for bed, Naoki had returned and was arranging pillows on the bed.

"Taichō and Bear have gone in pursuit of the target, it was a good thing Taichō left a clone by the man's hotel and caught them leaving." Ape commented as he built a wall of pillows on the large mattress. "We will meet them on the road tomorrow, if they don't meet us by the chosen spot we are to pursue with caution."

"Got it." Shizuka yawned as she left the bathroom and flopped on her side of the bed. "Goodnight, Naoki."

"Goodnight, Chip."

* * *

In the morning Shizuka piled inside the carriage with Takai as Naoki and Isoroku walked beside it. The plan was to meet up with Cat-Taichō and Bear outside the city limits since the two men had left the palace in pursuit of their original target while Shizuka and Naoki wrapped up their side of the plot.

The ride was mainly silent as Takai was working on some paperwork for his records while Shizuka read a scroll on a water jutsu she had been planning on learning, but she was failing at focusing long enough to get past the description of the jutsu.

"Takai-San, have you ever heard of the Spectrum?"

"The spy network? I have heard rumours of them." The man put aside the notebook he had been writing in and Shizuka pocketed the scroll to listen to what the man had to say. "You ran into one of them."

"Hai, the man that asked me to dance: Gōrudo, after the panic he found me killing the other Iwa shinobi." Shizuka leaned her head on the wall of the carriage behind her. "He made an offer of allegiance."

"And you are considering the moral ramifications of this deal." Takai hummed as he contemplated the young woman in front of him. "From what I know, the worst of the Spectrum's dealings are in smuggling. Mainly people and supplies."

"Damn, they would have been a nice contact to have. They must have some pretty good people if he knew that there were other shinobi in town."

"You didn't let me finish." Takai shook his head, "They smuggle people across borders for their safety. From what I hear they helped people escape the massacres in Kiri and the poverty in Wave."

"And the supplies?"

"To help the people in Wave, some areas are still suffering from the wars that destroyed their food sources." Takai shrugged at her surprised expression. "Don't know why you are surprised I'm not against the idea of linking up with them."

"I never said I'd offer them up to Lord Jiraiya, he already has his own network." Shizuka huffed causing the man to chuckle.

"You forget, I'm now supposed to help you too. The least you could do is offer me information from the Spectrum should I ask for it."

"Fine, but only if I have the information I need." Shizuka rolled her eyes and the man nodded but he didn't return to his notes, instead, he continued the conversation casually.

"How will you go about it?"

"I'll let them do whatever, as long as I am kept in the loop. List of people, supplies, as long as they aren't a security issue to us and our allies, I won't interfere."

"How will you contact them?"

"They run an art supply shop, they have a contact in Konoha. I have a codename, so I just need to make a specific order to pass on messages and request meetings."

"Clever. I assume other cities have the same system? I will not do anything with the information, though I do ask that if the opportunity arises, that you bring me in on the whole operation."

"It'll have to wait, I will test out how they work. Once we have a system going I'll bring you in, maybe even Lord Jiraiya."

"I'm sure you'll manage to handle it just fine."

Shizuka offered the man a smile before she pulled out the water jutsu scroll again, her mind much sharper now that one big issue had been solved.

* * *

It was three hours into their travelling that Cat and Bear met them on the road. Neither were injured but were both less rested than their other two companions that had been travelling at a civilian pace.

"We are ready to leave now. Have you ensured a line of contact with Lord Nakada?" Cat-Taichō asked as Shizuka and Naoki unsealed their shinobi equipment from a scroll in their bags.

"Hai. Thank you, Lord Nakada, I'm sure you will become a valuable contact." Shizuka smiled at the man who had remained seated in the carriage.

"Farewell, Shizuka-chan, Naoki-kun." The man waved as the carriage started moving further down the road that led towards the Land of Hot Springs.

"Change back into uniform quickly, if we depart for Konoha immediately we may yet make it before sundown."

"Hai, taichō."

The two youngest members of the squad moved behind some bushes and pulled on their uniform, finishing it up with their masks before they jumped to the tallest tree branches where Cat and Bear had been perched.

"Full speed back. Standard formation." Cat called and the group fell into their standard diamond shape with Cat leading and Shizuka taking up the rear.

The journey was silent while they were still in the Grass country, but that didn't last long.

"Hey, Chip, what about that man you danced with? You said his name was Gōrudo? I don't recall seeing his name on the list of guests." Ape commented as they crossed the border into the Fire country.

"He wasn't invited. He sneaked in." Shizuka grinned under her mask, her tone betraying her amusement to her teammates.

"A shinobi? How did he slip past us?" Grizzly's tone conveyed his bafflement at the idea that a man as ordinarily looking as him has slipped past elite shinobi.

"Not a shinobi." Shizuka affirmed her tone twisting into a smug tone. "A _civilian._ "

"A civilian sneaked in. A _civilian_ managed to evade all those guards and safety checks?" Shizuka hummed in agreement to Raidō's question. "How!?"

"We weren't looking for a civilian."

"Please tell me he didn't realise you were a shinobi. If _you_ couldn't hide from a civilian I'll resign right now."

"Chill, Grizzly. You can keep your job. Turns out he manages a network of spies and he was searching for a new contact and he saw my powers of persuasion and wanted me on his team." Shizuka teased, internalling laughing as the three males stiffened in front of her.

"He thought you were a-" Raidō choked on his words, earning a snort from the Nara.

"Yup!" Shizuka laughed. "I can't _wait_ till Tō-San hears of this."

"Remind me to sign up for full ANBU rota when we arrive. A grumpy Jōnin commander giving missions is never a good idea." Ape mumbled to Taichō and Grizzly as they fell into step closer together.

"Especially because he knows you are on my team."

"Is this payback for the mission? It's not like anyone will ever find out your real name!" Naoki whined as he glanced back at the sole female of their team.

"You threw me to the wolves! Stuffy nobles and snooty merchants." Shizuka grouched. "Next time can one of you please pretend to be my husband."

"Remind me to request Genma for any missions of this type." Taichō teased from his position at the front.

"Taichō! Not you too!"

* * *

The day after the team returned from the mission, Tenzō and Shizuka were called to the Forest of Death to observe the trials of the possible new recruits. The masks the two recruits wore was blank with numbers written on their foreheads in a bright orange colour.

In front of the two recruits were the ANBU Commander Jackal, Yūgao with her tiger mask and a man from Genma's team codenamed Horse. The commander seemed to be commenting on the trials the two prospects had already completed, the fighting skills half and was explaining the second half of the trials, which were for other valuable skills. These skills include things such as being chased, tracking, ambush and so on.

Tenzō signalled for her to stay out of sight for the moment and walked over to Horse, whispering something to him and gesturing to the tree she was hiding behind. Horse was known to be a genjutsu specialist however, he was also one of the fastest ANBU in the ranks.

He jumped to the tree she was on and stood next to her.

"Seems like the newbie is the second chaser for today." He whispered, although his voice was slightly distorted by the mask Shizuka could hear the amusement in his tone. "You know who they are?"

"Hai." Shizuka replied her eyes trained on the people below. "One will use Genjutsu to distract and cover his retreat, Two will spam jamming techniques."

"So it'll be a matter of keeping up and tracking the old fashion way."

"Yeah, I've gotten better at tracking while the area is being jammed but I'll have more success with physical clues. One is probably faster than Two, although Two is better at hiding."

"Got it." Just as Horse replied the Commander gestured for them to join them again so that they could start.

"Recruits, these are your chasers, Horse and Chipmunk. They are two of the fastest in the ranks so you will have to give the test maximum commitment." The commander's tone was the usual monotonous and stern distorted voice, but Shizuka could tell he wasn't as bored as he was showing. "This task you can only lose points, for every tag they place on your person you are deducted points, tags on vital points lose more points. You must evade them for the next two days and same rules apply as before, don't leave the forest."

The commander observed the prospect recruits silently before handing the 'caught' tags to each chaser. Shizuka observed them for a moment and smirked.

' _For every tag placed on their person, their chakra is slightly blocked. Which means they will be slower the more tags we put up.'_ Shizuka looked up at the recruits in front of her as she heard one of the recruits exhaling.

"Chi-Chipmunk?" The guy beneath the plain white mask with the number one painted on it stuttered, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

Shizuka narrowed her eyes as Kaito's silent laughter became audible. In the silence of the forest, the giggling sounded loud and clear, and she knew that some of the ANBU members watching were keeping their own snickers in.

"Recruit one… Run." Chipmunk growled in annoyance, her hands already drawing out some of the 'caught' tags.

Recruit two, who she knew to be Shun disappeared immediately into the forest surrounding them, but Kaito took a moment too long to compose himself and got slapped on the head with a tag.

"Too slow. Strike one." Shizuka growled, looking back at Horse who gestured for her to go after Shun, she then spread her sensory range in search of the Aburame.

She let a smirk bloom on her lip as she heard Kaito's sputtering and then the sound of him launching into the higher branches, the other chaser following right behind him.

' _Let the games begin.'_

* * *

It was three weeks that when Chipmunk and her team gathered in their bunk room to properly introduce themselves to their newest team member.

"Team, this is Aburame Shun, codename Mantis. He's the final member of our squad." Cat-Taichō gestured to Shun who had his mask clipped at his belt and a bag slung over his shoulder.

"You may call me Tenzō when we aren't on missions." Tenzō took his cat mask off and clipped it to his belt before he gestured to the next person.

"You already know me." Shizuka smiled as she waved from her top bunk. "Chipmunk in here. Welcome to the team."

"Call her Chip, we all do." Raidō nodded from his bunk under Shizuka's. "I'm Raidō, my codename is Bear."

"I'm Hakui, or Stag. I'm the medic on your team." The medic nodded in greeting and gestured to the last remaining bunk. "You have the bunk above mine."

"And I'm Naoki, or Ape." Naoki glanced up from the book he had been reading. "So, Taichō, what are we working with? I just got back from border patrol, so I didn't have the opportunity to watch the trials."

"Mantis is specialised in medium to long range combat. He will be working with Chipmunk in tracking and with ensuring no one can track us." Tenzō then gestured to the sheathed katana blade on Shun's back. "He still has some polishing work to be done on his kenjutsu and taijutsu, so we will focus on that for the out of village training."

"Please tell me we are not going to where we did my out of village training." Shizuka pouted as she shifted so that her legs would hang from the side of the bed.

"Was little chip afraid of the big bad animals in the forest?" Raidō teased as he pinched her shins.

"That island sucked." The Nara grouched as she slid from the top bunk and landed silently on the ground.

"Unfortunately for you, yes, that is where we are heading, you have three days to prepare." Tenzō shook his head as Shizuka sighed but nodded.

"I'll get some extra rations from the Akimichi." She sighed and swatted at Raidō's hand as he went to ruffle her hair.

"That would be much appreciated." Tenzō nodded at her and then turned to the rest of the members. "Has everyone notified your other supervisors of your month absence?"

"Hai, Taichō. Although once we return I am set for an intensive course at the hospital for a new treatment for chakra exhaustion, so I'll be off rotation for the team." Stag commented as she settled on her bunk.

"Alright, in that case, everything is set. We depart first thing in the morning three days from now." Tenzō reached for the mask clipped at his belt and stepped towards the door. "Stag and Ape, we should head over now for our rotation at the nest."

"Hai!"

The three left the room after waving goodbye to the rest of the team, leaving Raidō, Shizuka and Shun in the room.

The older man simply flopped back into his bed, his hands under his head as he stared upwards towards the bunk on top of his where he had a list of his rotations stuck onto the wood.

"Are you two done for the day?"

"Hai, I don't have any rotations until after my first mission." Shun replied as he tucked his bag into the small empty trunk under Hakui's bed. "What should I expect as the first mission on this team?"

"This team is specialised in infiltration and information gathering, but we do have a track record of progressing into assassinations." Shizuka supplied as she stepped onto the ladder up to her bed to check her own schedule. "Do you have Hokage guard tomorrow afternoon to night, Grizzly?"

"Hai, you with me? Genma-kun will be there too." Shizuka didn't have to see the man's face to know he was smirking, the smug tone of voice said everything she needed to know.

"Unfortunately." Shizuka grumbled and then stepped back down to the floor and turned to Shun. "The first mission trial run is merely a formality to test our teamwork and efficiency in uncontrollable situations, so I wouldn't wprry too much about it."

"I disagree! You've probably been on missions with Chip before, so you know things often go unpredictable." Raidō teased. "But she is right that it is merely a formality. We have enough experience on this team that we can tell whether you'll be a good fit or not based on what we see in training and the trials."

"True. You will also have Stag, Taichō or Grizzly here in each new rotation you try. They are the senior members of the team and technically our supervisors. During missions at least one of them will be present."

"That is reasonable." Shun nodded and moved towards the door. "In that case, I'll head home. I'll see you both in three days.

"Wait, I'll walk with you. I want to check no new paperwork arrived for me at Intel." Shizuka followed behind the newest member of the team and moved to put her mask on as she left the room "See you tomorrow, Grizzly."

"Until tomorrow, Chip. See you sometime, Shun."

Shizuka waved over her shoulder and closed the door behind her, falling into step with Shun as they made their way out of headquarters.

"Does he give nicknames to everyone or just you?" Shun asked as they left the dormitory area of the headquarters and into the more public spaces.

"Everyone has a nickname, but on missions, I'm the only one to be called by mine. And mine is the only one related to my mask, all the others' have random stories related to their nicknames."

"Speaking of masks, do you know what Kaito's mask is?"

"Hai, it's Hyena." Shizuka snorted, "His laughing stunt left an impression on the observers."

"You mean you recommended the mask."

Shizuka didn't voice an answer but her silence was a good enough answer.

"And what would his nickname be, then? I assume you won't stop at that."

"I may or may not have told all the ANBU I know to call him chuckles."

Shun huffed a laugh and shook his head as they finally left the building and into the quiet backstreet of Konoha.

"Alright. I'll see you around, Mantis." Shizuka waved as she made her way to the intelligence building, while Shun waved back and took to the roofs to go to the Aburame compound.

Shizuka sighed as she moved into the building and sneaking into her office through the window. She clipped her mask to her belt and moved to her desk where a brand-new pile of reports was neatly stacked, eyeing it with distaste.

' _Time to get to work.'_

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments!**

 **Whitney1995**

You got it! Chipmunk is the answer :D

Yes! Shikaku pouting is definitely what came to mind when I wrote the scene.

I'm glad you're enjoying! :)

 **sunshine78**

Hey! Welcome back!

Thank you! It sometimes takes me a while to actually come up with something but I'm happy with how these are coming along, you'll hopefully start to see some patterns soon :D

The plan was always to wait until she was at least 17 to start the romance. Now that she is older and they see each other as equals their age is just a number.

Anko will be showing up more to work alongside Shizuka again soon ;P

 **Leannn**

Hey! Welcome back!

I might post the scenes from the time lapses as either (if they are long enough) or in flashbacks when they are necessary. So you will be seeing some things later that I might have only hinted at :)

 **KooraX**

I snorted really loudly in class when I read your review, so thanks for that XD. Shikaku's reaction was definitely one of shock I can just imagine him pouting and plotting in his head as he goes to bed.

Oooh, interesting... very interesting. Guess you'll just have to wait and see ;P I can promise Chūnin Exams are just around the corner, so you won't have to wait too long.

 **prankster-at-heart**

More interactions are coming I promise! I'm pretty sure there are quite a few scenes of them together in chapter 32, and that's just next week!

 **Guest #1 (the one that guessed a squirrel)**

Not a squirrel! I did consider making her a squirrel for a while, but her sensei already has the squirrel summoning so I wanted a different animal. But very close guess! Thanks for playing along!

 **Candice**

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I needed a break from writing missions (especially because the next chapter is mainly all mission-related)

Yup! She got to kiss a handsome guy AND annoy her father, truly a perfect scenario.

She is indeed taking a lot of missions, but she usually has a couple of days in between the harder ones. Patrols are regular duty so she doesn't really get long breaks between those.

Not a marmot but they are from the same family as chipmunks, so close!

Ah yes! Well, unfortunately for you that arc is probably only around chapter 55 or later, so you have a while to wait still… Oooh, the Genma and Raidō VS Sound Four is an interesting choice! I haven't actually planned the Sasuke rescue arc that much, so even I don't know what's going to happen then.

 **Guest #2**

Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the story!

And well done on getting her mask right! Thank you for playing along too! :)

 **Arkytior's Song**

Thank you! It makes me happy reading all the lovely comments. Thanks for playing along with the little guessing game :D I'm glad my extra hint helped.

 **DragonQueen1846**

Thank you for the comment! I enjoy reading the comments from all the readers. :) Her mask isn't a rabbit, sorry!

 **Thanks for the comments! I enjoy reading your comments**

 **xx**


	32. Meetings

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **This is a short chapter, sorry! But I am posting this chapter a bit early. If I get a good head start on chapter 34, I might post the next chapter on Sunday. :D**

 **Here's a question for you:**

 **Is there any conversation you would definitely like to see? It can be one that already happened or one to happen sometime in the future. For example, Genma asking Chōza for help or Gai pestering Genma to meet Shizuka.**

 **Thanks! And Enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 32 - Meetings**

"Tadaima!" Shizuka called as she returned home one late morning after a late night and early morning shift of guard duty.

"Okaeri, Shizuka-Nee!" Ino greeted as she walked into the hall. "I haven't seen you in a while!"

"Sorry, Ino-chan." Shizuka finished pulling off her boots and moved towards the blond to ruffle her hair, earning an annoyed squawk as the younger girl swatted at her hand. "I was away on a mission for a month and then left almost immediately to another week-long mission."

"That sucks. Welcome back, nee-chan." Shikamaru called from the couch as they entered the living room.

"Hi Shikakun, Chōji-kun! Shouldn't you three be off training with your Jōnin sensei?"

"We are meeting in an hour here to train in the backyard." Ino answered once all Shikamaru did was shrug and slump further into the cushions.

"So formation training. Have fun with that." Shizuka grinned before she focused on the Yamanaka who was still standing by her side. "So, Ino-chan, since you have the time, do you want to help me choose an outfit for my date tonight?"

Ino's head snapped up to her and her eyes widened with excitement, a grin slowly spreading from ear to ear. The Nara almost regretted asking but didn't have much time to react otherwise as the younger girl grabbed her wrist and started pulling her in the direction of her room.

"Is it with Genma-San? Where are you going? What do you plan on doing with your hair? Does Shikaku-Oji know?"

Shizuka chuckled as the young girl started listing off questions, while Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at her and Chōji just watched with wide eyes while munching on some chips.

"Yes, it's with Genma. We are just going to the sushi restaurant across the street from the barbeque place. Haven't thought about anything for tonight yet." Shizuka snorted as Ino sent her a dry look.

"Then at least tell me it's not the first date! You must have already planned what you are going to wear for your first date."

"Ah… Well, you see… It kind of is? We've been out together before, but we always had other people along, but it will be just us this time."

"Shizuka-nee!" Ino whines as she pushed her onto the bed and then rushed to the closet. "Don't worry, I will make sure you look your best."

' _Is it possible to dread this more than telling Tō-san?"_

* * *

Luckily for her, Ino was very effective in coordinating outfits and that hadn't taken too long to be solved. On the other hand, Shizuka was fairly certain she was watching the future head of Interrogation division because the girl was insistent and could read body language like it as easy as breathing.

Another bonus to the whole thing is that once the hour was up, Shikamaru came to get Ino to start training thus releasing her from the interrogation.

Once the Genin left to the backyard, Shizuka decided to have a shower and go out for lunch since her mother was out meeting some friends. Once in her usual clothing, she moved to the backyard to wave goodbye at her brother's team, who spared her a wave before they returned to their training.

In a few minutes, she found herself walking down the main road considering her options for lunch.

"Isn't that Shizuka-chan?" A woman's voice reached her ears from the outdoor seating of the tea shop.

Turning to where the sound had come from she easily spotted the source.

"Shiranui-San, Genma, good afternoon." She offered a smile at the Tokujō and his mother who seemed to be enjoying some dango and tea.

"Shizuka, good to see you." Genma smiled as she stopped on the other side of the little fence separating the seating area from the crowds.

"Why don't you join us, dear? Genma was just telling me he is taking you out tonight."

"Ka-San…" Genma shot his mother a look, but the woman just ignored him.

"It's alright, Shiranui-San, I was just going to grab something to go for the office."

"Oh, all the more reason for you to join us. Please join us, we were just served."

Shizuka looked at Genma who just shrugged, a small exasperated smile playing on his lip.

"If you are sure…" Shizuka smiled and moved around the fence to join them, sitting next to Genma, who had waved down a waiter to get her order.

"Could I have the special and a green tea, please. Thank you." Shizuka smiled as she waved away the menu the man had been offering her.

"Come here often, Shizuka-chan?"

"Hai, it's close and fast for the busy days at the office."

"Funny, that is what Genma tells me too for when he has guard duty." The woman had light brown hair, almost a dirty blond and warm chocolate eyes, overall Genma looked quite a bit like his mother.

Genma and Shizuka didn't reply to her comment, but Shizuka could tell her cheeks were warming up and a glance at Genma from the corner of her eye told her he didn't miss the implications either.

"So, how often do you go out together? Genma makes it sound like you see each other every day." The blunt words made Shizuka pause before she sent the man a curious glance.

"We share a couple of rotations together, so we end up grabbing lunch every now and then." Genma jumped in sending Shizuka a look.

"And we have several friends in common, so we end up seeing each other when we go out with them." Shizuka completed, her hand reaching for the green tea that was served.

"Hmm, I see." Her eyes twinkled in amusement as the two shinobi sent each other a look. "Perhaps you both could join me for dinner at home one of these days.

"Ka-San." Genma sighed and looked over to Shizuka who gave him a small smile. "Alright, Shizuka and I are going on a border patrol in a couple of days, how about the day we get back? So two weeks from today?"

"Sounds wonderful!" Hikari clapped her hand and grinned as she started on the food in front of her now that they had all been served.

"I'll look forward to it, Shiranui-San." Shizuka smiled brightly as she too started eating.

"Oh, none of that dear, you may call me Hikari."

Shizuka smiled again and nodded in acquiescence glancing at Genma from the corner of her eye as he gave her hand a squeeze under the table.

Her quick lunch had turned out to be much longer than what she expected, but the whole encounter was too pleasant to rush through. Genma's mother may have been a civilian but the woman worked as a nurse in the hospital, though she mainly worked on the paediatric floor now instead of the shinobi floors.

The trio spent over an hour eating and talking, Hikari had been more than willing in supplying stories of Genma's childhood often bring the two women to laughter as Genma just huffed and pretended to be annoyed, while both women knew deep down he was enjoying the quiet moment.

"I had a lovely time, dear, we should have tea more often." Hizari gave Shizuka a tight hug, "I expect you to let me know how tonight goes. Kami knows this one give me single worded answers to anything I ask."

"Of course, Hikari-San. In case I don't see you until our dinner when we get back from our patrol, I'll tell you then."

"Wonderful. Now off you two go." Hikari stepped away from her and waved them off.

"But-"

"No, go walk her to the office. I still have to shop for dinner anyways."

"Alright, Ka-San. I'll have dinner with you the night before I leave." Genma leaned down to press a kiss to his mother's cheek and then turned to Shizuka offering her his arm.

"Have a good afternoon, Hikari-San." Shizuka smiled and ducked her head slightly before taking Genma's offered arm.

Genma and Shizuka walked slowly down the main street neither in a rush to reach their destination.

"Your mother is wonderful." Shizuka smiled up at him.

"She likes you. Not like that's much of a surprise."

"Well, all that is left is you meeting my father in a non-professional setting." Shizuka tugged his arm causing him to lower his head. "How about dinner at mine tomorrow?"

"But-"

"Oh, it's perfect! You'll be away from the village for a while after and it's so last notice that you won't have time to panic."

"Shizuka…"

"Please." Shizuka widened her eyes and bit her lower lip offering him a hopeful smile.

"Alright." Genma sighed as they reached the Intelligence division building. "I'll see you tonight."

He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, smiling at her when she gave him a bright grin and stood on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek too.

"See you." Shizuka reached into his weapons pouch and handed him a senbon, which he promptly stook back into his mouth.

"Well wasn't that an adorable display." Inoichi called from where he was leaning on the reception desk staring at where Shizuka and Genma had been a moment before.

"Inoichi-Oji, good afternoon." Shizuka smiled and stepped to his side and gave the receptionist a smile. "Were you waiting for someone?"

"You, actually. Ibiki requested a meeting for when you arrived. I sent a message up to him when you arrived at the building."

"Mind Map room then?"

"Yes, he wanted to go over the findings from your last mission."

"Did you get my report from the Spectrum?"

"Ah yes, your new contacts." Inoichi sent her an interested glance. "All you said is that you're enlisting them as a confidential information source. And requested a basic sweep of information on them."

"And…" Shizuka gave him an expectant look.

"They are clear from the sources we have. They smuggle orphans out of conflict areas and food across borders to feed the areas that don't receive as much food because of said conflicts. They are a viable source."

"Then I can contact them." Shizuka grinned and opened the door to her room, finding Ibiki already reading through the newest set of papers pinned to the wall. "Ah, Ibiki-San, good afternoon."

"Good afternoon." Ibiki turned to look at the two new arrivals before he gestured over to the papers he had been examining. "Could you go over these? You seem to have made some weird connections."

"Ah yes, the red strings." Shizuka sighed as she plucked the red string linking her latest mission report to a separate task force. "There is something going on in the Land of Rice fields. Their damiyō has all but disappeared from the political scene, they have a very closed-off relation to all other countries. And yet the supplies that are being sold off to an unknown party is in that area."

"So you are speculating that something is brewing there." Inoichi pointed out as he moved to inspect the notes she had made.

"Hai. Well, we know for sure something is up." Shizuka gestured to the task force made specifically for the Country of Rice Fields. "We have confirmed reports of shinobi activity and now merchants are selling unknown good there too."

"It sounds like a good starting point for your new contacts." Inoichi commented as he looked at the Nara over his shoulder.

"Ah yes, the Spectrum." Ibiki muttered. "Watch out for them, Nara. We have never had contact with them, we can't take their word blindly."

"I know. I was planning on giving them jobs to confirm things we already know, and learn more about them before asking them to do anything on a large scale."

"As long as use caution, I believe they have potential to be a force to be reckoned with." Inoichi nodded.

"So, how do we go about checking if all of this is connected?" Shizuka tugged at the red string once again.

"We will dispatch a couple of squads, do you have any areas of suspicion?" Inoichi replied as he moved to the map on the opposite wall from where they had been looking.

"I can mark them on a map and send a report with surmised data if you wish." Ibiki nodded at her suggestion and then she continued. "My ANBU squad should be available, although Stag and I are both off the rota at the moment."

"Yes, it would be a good match, especially since they are familiar with parts of the case already. It should also be simple enough that it will be a good experience for the newbie on the team." Ibiki hummed before he nodded towards the files on her desk. "Report on the prisoner brought in two days ago. Might have some things of interest."

"Ah, I'll have a look now." Shizuka nodded as she picked the folder up as the two men made their way to the door. "I shall have the report ready for tomorrow afternoon."

Ibiki grunted and Inoichi waved as they left, leaving her two her mind maps and notes.

Despite her growing excitement for her date later that day, Shizuka focused hard on her work to ensure she would make it home with enough time to get ready properly.

* * *

Later that night, she opens the door to see Genma with a simple bouquet of light pink flowers. He wore dark pants and plain grey long sleeves having switched out of his usual uniform.

"These are for you." He gave her the flowers, planting a kiss on her cheek as she gently took It from him. "I promise they are safe to smell."

She narrowed her eyes at his cheeky smile and then rolled her eyes, pressing her nose into the flowers inhaling the sweet aroma. While she was momentarily surprised that he had chosen her favourite flowers, but then immediately jumped to the conclusion either Ino, Akira or Inoichi had done some meddling.

"They are lovely, thank you. Why don't you come in while I put these in a vase?" She stepped into the house, moving to the kitchen where her mother was cooking dinner. She filled a vase with water and put the flowers inside, setting them on the counter. "Ka-san, could you put these in my room, please? We have reservations and I don't want to be late."

"Dahlia flowers, huh? Looks like Akira will have some gossip for me." Yoshino teased. "Go enjoy your date."

Shizuka walked back out to the entrance hall where Genma was standing in looking at the pictures on the shelf beside the door.

"You were a cute kid." He pointed to a picture of Shizuka sitting between her parents in a barbeque house, a small spot of sauce on her cheek.

"Thanks. Be glad the picture of me discovering wasabi was 'lost', trust me I wasn't so cute then." She smiled, taking the hand he had offered as they moved out of the house and the compound.

"They managed to capture the moment exactly?"

"My parents had discovered about my curiosity leading to _interesting_ situations and it became standard to have a camera nearby. The wasabi incident was at a dinner at the Akimichi's when I got some on the tip of my chopsticks, and they took a picture the moment the heat hit." She grimaced causing Genma to chuckle.

"Never a dull moment with you."

"Wouldn't have it any other way. Life would be too boring!" She smiled up at him.

"Nor would I." He kissed her forehead as they moved away from the pictures and towards the door so that they could leave.

The weather was rather pleasant outside, there was no wind and the temperatures were just enough to go outside without a jacket. The couple linked their arms as they made their way out of the Nara compound.

"So, why are Dahlia flowers your favourite?"

"Did Akira-Oba-San not give you the meaning?"

"Honestly, her grin and the glint of her eyes just made me want to get out of there." Genma teased as he nudged his shoulder against hers. "Not even your mother was so bad that day I stayed for lunch."

"She lives amongst the Yamanaka. She knows how to read people much too easily for comfort."

"So, chocolate next time?"

"Akimichi owned shop." Shizuka teased before she smiled up at him. "And you're already planning the next date?"

"I like being prepared."

They stared at each other for a few moments before dissolving into laughter.

"Speaking of next time. Anything I should be prepared for dinner tomorrow?"

"You'll be fine! Tō-San is just too protective, but he'll get over it eventually. At least you won't have to meet him _and_ Daichi-Oji at the same time."

Genma gave her a raised eyebrow look as they entered the main road.

"You didn't answer my initial question. The flowers, what do they mean?"

"Pink Dahlias represent kindness and grace, but Dahlias can mean staying adventurous and relaxed as well as honesty. There are a couple of bushes of them in the Nara forest, it reminds me of home."

"Staying adventurous and relaxed. Makes sense. Have you ever actually used ikebana on a mission?"

"No, but I suppose it could be useful in some very specific situations."

Genma hummed and then moved to hold open the door of the restaurant for her to walk through.

"Good evening, do you have a reservation?" A young woman asked as they stepped inside.

"Hai, Shiranui Genma, table for two."

"Ah, yes, please follow me." The woman plucked to menus from a small table off to the side and led them through the main room that seemed to be rather full and sat them at a booth in the corner of the room. "Have you been here before?"

"Hai, thank you." Genma pushed Shizuka's chair in and sat across from her, shrugging at her raised eyebrows. "Could we have some water and green tea to start?"

"Oh and some edamame please." Shizuka smiled brightly at the woman who noted it down and left to place their request. "So, you've been talking to Chōza-Oji."

"What makes you say that?"

"This Akimichi restaurant needs to be booked months in advance, and you only invited me here two days ago."

"He may have asked his cousin for a favour." Genma sighed and he gave her a sheepish grin when she just nodded with a knowing grin. "And I may have asked for your father's favourite sake."

Shizuka dissolved into giggles, her eyes twinkling with mirth.

"Oh, I _have_ to ask him about that."

"What makes you think he will tell you about our private conversations?"

"He's my godfather." Shizuka raised one finger as if to count her reasons and then she raised the next one. "He's unable to resist puppy eyes. _And_ if Miku-Oba-San heard _she_ will definitely tell me."

Genma shook his head in amusement, his eyes crinkling at the corner as he smiled.

"Fine, you win." He leaned back as the waitress placed their drinks and edamame on the table. "Shall we go for the traditional southern combo to share?"

"Sounds perfect." Shizuka nodded, waiting until the waitress left before she leaned forward. "You neglected to tell me you asked for my favourite order at this particular restaurant."

"As I said, I enjoy being prepared." Genma leaned forward, one of his hands reaching forward, Shizuka kept herself from looking down and kept eye contact with his warm eyes. Only to release a breath as he simply bit into an edamame pod, his lips twitching into a smirk.

' _Oh, game on.'_ Shizuka grinned back as she picked a pod up for herself, chewing slowly as she considered her next move.

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments!**

 **Arkytior's Song**

Hey again! Hope this chapter had enough Genma for you! XD I can definitely promise that Genma will be appearing more often now. Guard duty isn't too interesting, but I might give a glimpse into it at some point.

 **Leann**

(〃￣ω￣〃) Aaaawwwww! Thank you so so sooooooo much! The people that know Shizuka and Genma tease them a lot. And I actually do have some teasing planned for Genma too. In the chapter after the next (so chapter 33) we get to see just Genma and a couple of the guys interact :D

Thank you again for your lovely comment!

 **Guest**

Hahahaha that would be pretty funny! Tell you what, I can probably squeeze that in next chapter. He was already going to be teased, but I hadn't mentioned the whole sharing a bed so I'll be sure to add that in. Thanks for the suggestion and for the compliment! :D

 **Candice**

Hello! Yup poor Shizuka XD Yes more teasing to come! This time it will also be Genma being teased! Chip and Chuckles are a dynamic duo and ANBU better watch out :P

Thank you!

 **Thanks for the comments! I enjoy reading your comments**

 **xx**


	33. Official

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Sorry for the wait! And I'm also sorry that the next update will also only be in at least two weeks. To compensate this is a longer chapter than usual and I can promise the next one will also be longer.**

 **Also thanks to the guest for the suggestion for the people teasing Genma about Naoki and Shizuka sharing a bed! It's a short comment, but I already had that scene written but I managed to squeeze it in. :D**

 **Thanks! And Enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 33 - Official**

The morning after her date with Genma had her at the breakfast table earlier than her usual time than on the days she only had to work at Intelligence. It was the first day in a while where all four of them were together for the first meal of the day.

"Ah, Ka-chan, I invited Genma over for dinner tonight." Shizuka commented as she finished the last of her tea.

"Oh, that's wonderful dear!" Yoshino smiled, her eyes flickering towards Shikaku who was reading a report he had brought home from the office. " _Isn't_ it, Shikaku, dear? _"_

"Hm." Shikaku grunted, his eyes not leaving the report.

"So you've finally made it official? Can I tell Ino so that you have finally admitted there was something happening so that she can stop planning an intervention?"

"She's planning an intervention?" Shizuka looked at her brother who was poking at his food.

"There have been rumours around you two since before we graduated, that was just over three months ago."

"Ah, well… You can ease her mind." Shizuka snickered before stretching her arms over her head and standing up to put her plate in the sink.

"Shika you have dish duty!" Yoshino supplied as she placed her plate in the sink, ignoring her son who mumbled his complaint. "Shizuka, you can take dish duty tonight."

"Hai, Ka-San." Shizuka as she shuffled over to the cabinet to grab a cup and fill it with water.

"Ready to go, little fawn?" Shikaku asked as he stood from the table and moving his plate to the sink.

"Hai." Shizuka finished her water and moved to the entrance hall after her father. "Have a good day, Ka-San, otouto!"

The father and daughter duo walked silently towards the centre of the village.

"You were right, Tō-San." Shizuka finally said just as they turned into the street where the Administration and Intelligence buildings were.

"I figured." Shikaku looked down to meet his daughter's eyes. "As long as you are sure, little fawn."

Shizuka smiled softly and leaned up to kiss his cheek before she turned to enter the Intelligence building.

"Have a good day, Tō-San. I'm supposed to meet team four for lunch, so I'll see you tonight."

"You too. See you later." Shikaku stuffed his hands into his pocket and continued walking to the end of the street where his own office was located.

Shizuka watched him go with a smile on her lips.

' _Tonight will be interesting.'_

* * *

Meanwhile, in one of the ANBU training grounds Genma, Raidō, Yūgao and Hayate were warming up for a training session.

"So, Genma! Stag said she saw you at the fancy sushi restaurant with little Chip!" Raidō commented smugly as he finished his stretches.

"Damn! Couldn't you have waited another month?" Yūgao complained as she jabbed her fingers into Raidō's shoulder, effectively wiping the smirk off his face as it contorted into a wince.

"I still don't understand how Raidō is so good at getting the timing right. First us two, then Asuma and Kurenai, now you and Chip." Hayate sighed as he stepped up to the centre of the grounds and drew his katana.

"You made bets? How did I miss this?" Genma whined as he stepped up to Hayate's side, his unsealed katana making a rare appearance.

"You've been to busy going on these not-dates with her. We even had to specify a proper dinner date as in where you aren't wearing uniform." Raidō smirked as he and Yūgao stood facing the two brown-haired males.

"We were taking our time." Genma huffed, launching into a fast swipe at Raidō's shoulder which the man blocked with his own katana.

"Taking your time? So I suppose you haven't slept in the same bed? Naoki-kun said she curls up and sighs in her sleep."

Yūgao and Hayate who were exchanging blows just a few meters away snickered as Genma just narrowed his eyes and spun around Raidō to attack his back.

"They slept in the same bed you see, on our last mission. I wonder who she was dreaming of! She had received quite a few compliments from some young men at the gala."

Raidō parried the block again, having spun around to follow Genma's movement. The two men stood with their katanas crossed in front of their faces.

"Shut up. It was just a mission." Genma grumbled, his eyes moving to Hayate and Yūgao close by to glare at them when their laughter became more obvious.

Looking back at Raidō's raised eyebrow, Genma spat his senbon into the man's side.

"Oi!" Raidō jumped back as the needle pierced his skin. It wasn't deep and the moment he jumped the needle fell out and the wound was more of a mosquito bite than an actual wound.

"Now, now, boys. _Behave_." Yūgao kicked Hayate away and turned to swipe at Genma's head. "I'm sure Chip was dreaming of her _boyfriend._ "

"Yūgao!"

* * *

That same evening Shizuka and Genma were laying under a tree in the backyard of the Nara clan head's home telling each other of their days.

"So they had a bet going. Huh… I should have seen that coming." Shizuka mumbled as she looked up at him from her book.

"Hopefully they will stop with the teasing now that we are together."

"One can only hope." Shizuka murmured as she focused again on her reading, making Genma laugh as she completely ignored the world around them.

As she focused on reading the book about chakra poisons, a book that was his and he let her borrow it after the topic came up at their date, Genma relaxed into their little spot in the yard.

"It's funny how the Nara compound contrasts so greatly with the village."

"Well, it is surrounded by a forest." Shizuka mumbled as she put the book she had been reading aside, having decided she wouldn't get any more reading done at the moment. "Remind me to take you into the forest one day."

"Will I get to see the elusive Nara deer?"

"Maybe." Shizuka turned so that she could cuddle against his side and closed her eyes.

Genma folded an arm under his head and closed his eyes, basking in the light of the setting sun and the comfortable position they had found nestled between the roots of a tree.

His peace only lasted for a few minutes because sooner than what he'd like a sound disrupted the peaceful silence.

"I did not expect to find you here so early, Genma." Shikaku drawled as he approached the pair.

Genma looked over at the approaching Jōnin who surprisingly, or not, depending on who you asked, wasn't in his customary slouch. The older man stopped just next to the tree they were resting under.

"Ah, Shikaku-san... Shizuka and I ran into each other so she invited me to come earlier?" His voice trailed off into a question. _'Shizuka will regret faking sleep. No way she would have fallen asleep so quickly. She's forcing her chakra to imitate sleep.'_

"Ah, why don't you join me for a drink? Dinner isn't yet for a while still." The Nara gestured towards the house.

"Shizuka worked hard today, I would loathe to wake her from a well-deserved nap." Genma attempted, gesturing with his only free hand at the 'sleeping' kunoichi in his arms.

Shikaku held in a snort. His daughter may be convincing in her 'sleeping' but there was no way she hadn't woken up by his approach or by the ensuing conversation. So he just crossed his arms and stared Genma down, conveying to the Tokujō that he knew that his daughter was faking it.

"I'll be there in a moment." Genma conceded, watching as her father nodded and proceeded to slowly walk back to the porch. And with a pinch to her side, she opened her eyes and glared at him. "Seriously, you set me up?"

"I was curious to see how the interaction would go. Didn't exactly work out. Now go receive my father's overprotective talk before standing up for our relationship."

"Mean." Genma pinched her again and laughed as she went for his ribs, a place she knew he was ticklish.

He rolled them over and landed on top of her. He placed a kiss on her forehead and helped her up before they walked into the house. He got the directions to her father's study and made his way there.

"You bugged his office didn't you?" Shizuka swivelled around to see her mother's raised eyebrows.

"No?"

"For a kunoichi specialised in infiltration you suck at lying."

"You know me too well."

"So does your father. I give him another minute before he notices Gin."

Shizuka scrunches her nose and seconds later the sound of scurrying paws reach them. The two women look towards the hall leading to the study and sure enough, a tiny light grey racoon slid into view, his tail tucked under his legs and his ears flat against his head.

"Shizuka-chan, he found me..." The little summon sniffled, easily scrambling up his mistress' legs to settle in her arms. "Scary."

That was all he said before he ducked his head into the crook of her shoulder, not seeing the starry eyes being directed at him by Yoshino who cooed at how cute he was.

"While we wait, why don't you set the table." Yoshino pointed towards the stack of plates on the counter. "Then, why don't you call your brother down from his room."

"Gin, why don't you go wake up my brother. Remember he loves to wash his face with cold water when he wakes up." Shizuka placed her summon on the floor as she grabbed the plates.

"Hai, Shizuka-chan! I won't fail this time." Gin called before scurrying away and up the stairs.

As soon as his tail disappeared around the corner Shizuka and Yoshino shared a mischievous glance, each counting down the seconds until they heard a thump and curse from upstairs a minute later.

Both women started giggling as they proceeded to work, only to dissolve into full-blown laughter when Shikamaru appeared at the doorway with Gin tucked under his arm and his hair dripping wet.

"I believe you misplaced this." Shikamaru thrust the little racoon forward towards his sister, who extended her arm allowing the little summon to crawl up her arm to rest on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Shika-kun!" Shizuka grinned before she shoved a stack of cups in his direction. "Now, help me."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes but helped her set the table as they waited for the two men to leave the office.

By the time the other two men entered the dining room the food was already being put on the table.

Shizuka walked around the table and wrapped her arm around Genma's waist and pressed a kiss to his cheek. He looked down at her and smiled, planting a kiss on her forehead in return before they sat down at the table.

Her family had already sat down at their usual spots, meaning that Genma would be sitting right across from Shizuka and next to her mother.

They sat down slowly and after a brief thank you the food was passed around.

"So, Genma-kun, what do you usually do when you're not on duty." Yoshino, the only one who had met Genma outside of a professional setting, was who started the conversation. Shizuka sent her a small smile which Yoshino responded with a slight wink.

"I've been spending more time in the laboratories working on some projects." Genma glanced at Shizuka with a pointed expression. "Shizuka dropped out of Anko's projects and then recommended me as a substitute."

"I still pop in to help occasionally, and I at least help with research and ideas when we have time." Shizuka defended herself with a huff before continuing. "He's also picked up fūinjutsu again, I needed help with a project and he has more experience and refused to simply allow me to mess around with seals."

"Smart move. I don't want to deal with payments to fix something you blew up again." Shikaku pitched in slightly more interested at the mention of sealing techniques. "And what, pray tell is this project that requires advanced fūinjutsu?"

"Task force, I found some notes and needed help to decipher them." Shizuka shrugged before turning back to Genma. "Speaking of downtime, did you manage the puzzle?"

Genma scowled and Shikaku and Shikamaru both seemed to twitch in interest to the newest development while Yoshino chuckled remembering the box Shizuka had given the man when he had been to the house the last time.

"I did, but it took over twenty minutes to figure out. I still can't do it as fast as you." Genma huffed in annoyance before turning to the other two males. "The wooden box puzzle that slots together. A _toy_ Shizuka used to play with I believe."

Shikaku raised his eyebrows and then chuckled as he realised what the man was talking about with Yoshino sending him an amused smile while Shikamaru just looked confused.

"That is technically a training exercise for chakra control with a side of problem-solving. I'd be willing to bet several Genin can't solve it actually." The clan head smirked as the Tokujō widened his eyes before turning to glare at the younger girl.

"You said it was a kid's toy!"

"It was for me." Shizuka teased back before sending her father a wink. "Tō-San gave it to me when I was four."

"Four? How long did it take you?"

"An hour and a lot of mishaps the recoil is annoying isn't it."

"What in world are you two talking about?" Shikamaru who had stayed silent while eating his food finally spoke up.

"It's a chakra control exercise as well as a puzzle. A wooden box with locks and a bunch of traps and a recoil for mistakes." Shizuka explained as she turned to her brother who sat next to her. "I've always enjoyed puzzles and Tō-San received it as a gift during a diplomatic mission, I found it and started to play with it."

"She figured it out despite getting herself caught in an E-Rank genjutsu and burning her finger once."

"And I got shocked too." Shizuka pitched in with a grin to which Genma and Shikamaru just looked at her with a deadpan expression. "Tō-San walked in-"

"Walked into what should have been my _locked_ office to see her on the last latch of the damned thing. When she finished I just put it on a harder setting and gave it back."

"To keep her out of trouble." Genma surmised to which Shikaku and Yoshino nodded with smirks. "Did it last long?"

"She completed both other levels the same day." Shikaku's answered dryly his expression. "By that point, we were pretty used to it. It's only worse now that she has actual missions."

"I'm sure every moment of exasperation is worth it." Genma responded before sharing a soft smile with Shizuka.

Shikaku tilted his head slightly as he watched the couple before sharing a smile with Yoshino when they weren't looking. Shikamaru on the other hand just huffed and focused on his food so that he didn't have to watch the exchange.

"In any case, I have a couple of harder ones somewhere in my trunk." Shizuka gave him a wink and then nudged Shikamaru with her shoulder giving him a look.

"Do you play shogi?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes at his sister and turned to Genma, his tone sounded as bored as he used to when he talked about the academy.

Shizuka pinched his arm but he didn't even react and continued to stare at Genma who blinked at him for a moment before he shook his head t Shizuka that had apparently mouthed something to him.

"Occasionally, but I'm more of a Go player. Or cards. Though I have yet to beat your sister." Genma answered with a shrug.

"She cheats." Shikamaru deadpanned. "Just cheat against her too."

He then sent a 'are you satisfied' look at his sister who just narrowed her eyes at him until he slumped into his usual posture.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru grumbled before he looked back at Genma who was clearly trying to hold back a smile. After a few moments analysing the man he shrugged and spoke up again. "Tō-San has been teaching me to spot her tricks, _when_ I figure out how to beat her I'll tell you. More people need to be able to beat her than just Tō-San and Daichi-Oji."

"I'll tell you how to beat her speed with minimum effort in a spar in exchange."

"Oi!" Shizuka exclaimed a mock offended look on her face, though to anyone who knew her would be able to spot the joy shining in her hazel eyes. "You're not supposed to join forces."

"You're losing your commanding touch, dear." Yoshino teased her eyes happily watching her youngest son and her daughter's boyfriend call a momentary truce. "But don't worry, I'm sure I can give you a few tips to keep them in line."

Shikaku and Shikamaru tensed and Genma gave her a wary side look before sending a pleading look to Shizuka when he noticed her sharp grin.

The rest of dinner went by with more stories being exchanged. Yoshino and Shizuka were usually the ones prompting different topics in hopes of getting Shikamaru and Shikaku to warm up to Genma with varying levels of success.

Shikaku clearly approved of the relationship though he still held the air of an overprotective father and was clearly micro analysing everything Genma said. Shikamaru didn't have the head start of knowing Genma's work ethic as his father, but he was clearly not fully comfortable with the whole thing. He wasn't uninviting but he was making it clear that while Genma passed his initial assessment he still had work to do to convince him completely.

Overall Shizuka was satisfied with the progress they made over the course of the night and a grin was firmly in place as she and Genma washed the dishes whilst talking softly with Yoshino. Shikaku and Shikamaru were responsible for cleaning the table and putting everything away and simply listened in to the conversation.

"Thank you for coming, Genma-kun! Please do return soon." Yoshino beamed as Genma slid on his shoes and walked onto the front porch.

"It was wonderful, Yoshino-San." Genma gave her a small head bow and a smile before turning to Shizuka. "I'll see you the day after tomorrow for border patrol."

"Bright and early." Shizuka smiled leaning up on her toes to give him a kiss. "Thank you for coming."

"It was good." Genma stepped back and turned towards the door where Shikaku was leaning. "Shikaku-San, thank you. Have a good night."

"You too, Genma." Shikaku offered his hand for a handshake which Genma took.

Her father then disappeared back inside the house, leaving them alone on the porch. Shizuka glanced back and felt her father's signature in the living room while her mother and brother had already gone to their rooms.

"So, will you ever tell me what happened in the office?"

"Nope." Genma grinned and hugged her around her shoulders. "But I think your father is okay with this."

"Gen, if he wasn't you wouldn't have stayed for dinner. I think he likes you." Shizuka grinned as he gave her a raised eyebrow and she snorted and leaned into the hug.

They stood in silence for a moment before a yawn escaped Shizuka, who then pulled away from Genma before leaning back up and kissing him.

"Goodnight, Gen."

"Goodnight, doe." Genma watched her step back into the house with a smile before he started to make his way home.

* * *

Two days later Genma, Shizuka, Yūgao and Naoki left the village for their two-week border patrol.

Shizuka didn't mind border patrols as they tended to be quiet and the fresh air was always appreciated. Her favourite route was the one that took two weeks, where they covered the perimeter in a circular fashion in a radius of two days away from the village gate.

From the gate to the base outpost the team ran in a straight line for two days at which point they would either go West to the next outpost, just under a day away. There they would cover a smaller perimeter between the four members before returning to the outpost a day later and continuing clockwise at all 8 stations before returning to the village.

There were ANBU team leaving the village every four days for these and occasionally an extra team would be sent out with only two days between patrols to break up the order and catch anyone off guard.

The rotation also changed occasionally, and the smaller perimeters would be made wider and instead of heading West they would head East.

During conflicts, the patrols also increased, and the system became more complicated with more teams crossing each other to ensure every area was secured at all times.

Shizuka enjoyed this route the most because they passed by no cities in their main perimeter and the team would always be covered by trees. Even in the mountains to the south they had trees to sleep and stay covered.

This time, however, Shizuka wasn't enjoying her patrol as much as she would normally. Yes, she was friends with all her teammates for the mission and got along wonderfully with all of them but that also meant teasing. A _lot_ of teasing.

From sleeping arrangements to who woke up who between night shifts always earned her and Genma a few minutes of teasing.

After a week of being teased for who she was sleeping next to she was ready to strangle Naoki. Even Yūgao was giving her sly looks and comments throughout the days and Shizuka just wanted to get some blackmail on her and Hayate so that she could return the favour.

A brush against her hand made her turn from glaring at Yūgao to look at Genma's amused expression.

' _I'll help.'_ Genma mouthed over to her, having caught on to what she was thinking. _'We'll stalk them around the village.'_

Shizuka smiled brightly at him and turned to face him fully, ignoring the other two who went silent when they noticed they were being excluded from the conversation. Shizuka then offered him some of the dried berries from the Nara forest which he accepted with a smile.

' _I suppose it isn't too bad.'_

* * *

A week later the quartet returned to the village and checked in with the ANBU commander for a quick, and boring, debrief. They left the office half an hour later promising to have their reports ready by the following afternoon.

"See you around!" Yūgao and Naoki were the first to break away as they each headed to their own homes while Shizuka and Genma each went to their bunks to get ready for dinner with Genma's mother.

After showering and getting into the clothes they had left in their bunk rooms for this exact reason they met up outside the ANBU headquarters all ready to go.

"We need to stop at the Akimichi dango place. I placed an order for a box of their sweet mochi." Shizuka commented as soon as she joined Genma at the bottom of the steps leading into the building.

"You didn't have to bring anything." Genma sighed and offered her his arm which she happily took, locking their arms together as they made their way around the back streets and into the centre of the village.

They picked up the box of sweets and made it to Hikari's house just as the sun was setting, casting a golden glow on the streets.

"Oh, you're here! Just in time! Come in!" Hikari smiled broadly as she ushered them inside her apartment.

Shizuka thanked her and sat on the little bench to take her shoes off while Genma just leaned down to take his as there wasn't space for him to sit.

"Hikari-San I brought these sweet mochis for dessert." Shizuka commented as she stood from her seat and offered the bag of goodies. "It's not much, but-"

"Oh dear, that's very kind of you!" Hikari gave the young girl a pat on the cheek with a smile. "Genma-kun did say you were a sweetheart."

With a nod, she gestured for Shizuka to follow her into the apartment, which Shizuka did after sending an amused look at Genma had a sheepish smile and pink dusting his cheeks.

"Shizuka-chan, could you help me put everything in the plates to serve, please?" Hikari gestured to the bowls and trays she had put on the counter next to all the pots and pans. "And Genma-kun table setting duty is yours."

"On it, Ka-San." Genma shuffled into the kitchen after them and immediately went for the cabinets for the plates, cups and cutlery, stacking everything and carrying them to the table in the living room.

From her place at the counter, she could just see him moving around the table adjusting the cloth on the wooden surface and placing the soft grey plates in place.

"So, Shizuka-chan, Genma-kun told me you've been working in intelligence more often than not recently."

"Hai, it allows me to solve problems and use my head but still gives me the opportunity to go on specific missions."

Shizuka smiled as they started carrying the plates to the table and setting them on the small pads Genma had also laid out.

"Yes, Genma has mentioned working on certain task forces with you."

"Hai, he's got a good head on his shoulders, very useful out in the field. I have you to thank for that." Shizuka joked back as she sat down beside Genma who sat across from his mother.

Shizuka turned to wink at Genma who pinched her arm lightly as Hikari laughed.

"Well, I can't claim all the credit, but thank you." The woman smiled as the couple sat close to each other, their shoulders nearly touching each other.

The trio smiled and said their thanks before passing the food out. Hikari-san had made pumpkin broth to start and had grilled fish, rice and a variety of roasted vegetables for them to choose from.

Shizuka watched in amusement as Genma all but glared at the spinach next to the fish and quickly went for more of the pumpkin broth.

"So, why does Gen despise spinach so much?" Shizuka turned to Hikari who had let a giant smirk bloom on her face, making Genma tense and then slump beside her.

"Wasn't the stories from lunch enough?" Genma grumbled as he poured some more broth in his bowl.

"The more information the better, Gen! Not my fault you didn't use the opportunity at home." Shizuka teased before she leaned towards Hikari who did the same. "So, spinach?"

"Well, it all started when he was first trying new foods as a baby…" Genma groaned as his mother started talking, but she wasn't phased and continued on without pause. "It used to be one of his favourite foods, but one day after eating some I took him out to the park and the girl he had a crush on was there, and he had some stuck in his teeth. She called him green tooth every time they saw each other until she joined the civilian school and him the academy."

"Wait is that why he always had a toothpick in his mouth when he first joined the academy? Because he was traumatised of having something stuck in his teeth?" Shizuka's eyes widened as she made the connection to a story Raidō had told her.

"You know, that does make sense." Hikari teased as she turned to watch her son whose face was set in a pout before she turned back to the younger girl to share her new theory. "And then it just evolved to a senbon because he wanted to look cooler."

Shizuka burst out laughing and Hikari joined in while Genma just shook his head at them. Though judging by the small smile playing at the corner of his lips he was more than happy to be the butt of the joke if it meant the two women would get along.

They continued exchanging stories with Shizuka offering a full rundown of their date as they started on the dessert she had brought.

"A perfect gentleman." Shizuka teased as she planted a kiss to his cheek laughing when his cheeks turned pink. "He gets extra cookie points for no visible panic signs when my overprotective father wanted to _chat_. Although he seemed-"

Genma huffed and shoved a piece of mochi in her mouth which she started chewing while glaring at him. The man snorted and wiped the powdered sugar from the corner of her mouth with his thumb.

"How do you even know what happened in there?"

Shizuka didn't answer immediately as she was still chewing on the large piece of sweet given to her and Hikari leaned back to watch the interaction with a content smile on her face.

"Racoon out the window. Never rely on a single source if you can help it." Shizuka finally answered with a sniff almost insulted that he thought she had only tried one thing. "Though father hs privacy seals, so I'm relying on lip reading and basically only your side of the conversation. But I know my father well enough that I can figure out what he said with your answers."

Genma just raised his eyebrows and shook his head before swung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a side hug.

"You're too curious for your own good. The one warning I've consistently received from your teammates and family besides 'Don't hurt her' is 'Beware her curiosity'."

"Wait my teammates also gave you warnings? And family? Not just my father?" Shizuka scrambled out of his hold to observe him through narrowed eyes.

Genma sent his mother a look saying 'see what I have to deal with' causing the woman to chuckle again and then just gave Shizuka head a pat as he collected the dished from the table to take back into the kitchen.

"Speaking of family, Hikari-san I have a feeling you and my mother would get along splendidly." Shizuka grinned while Genma just sighed defeatedly as his girlfriend leaned back towards his mother. "You should come over for tea someday."

"That sounds lovely." Hikari smiled before moving to the small wooden drawer in the corner of the living room and picking up a small book. "Genma said he found saw a baby picture of yours, so it's only fair you see some of his."

"Ah, thank you!" Shizuka shuffled to the side as the woman sat next to her and opened the book slowly to see pictures of the Shiranui family through the years. "I'm sure mother would love to share more baby pictures too."

"I hear you have some interesting ones." Hikari teased before the two burst into laughter at a picture of a particularly grumpy looking Genma.

"The family album, really?" Genma huffed as he popped his head in from the kitchen, his hands still holding a partially soapy dish.

"To even the grounds." Hikari replied to which her son only rolled his eyes and disappeared through the doorway again. Hikari turned to look out the living room window and she took in the dark sky in surprise. "Oh my, it is getting a bit late. I hadn't realised we spent so long talking."

"Ah, so it is. I'm afraid I have to return home, I'm supposed to finish my report for tomorrow."

"And I have early guard duty." Genma pitched in as he walked to the table wiping his hands on a towel.

"Oh, of course, thank you for coming." Hikari stood from the table and put away the album as Genma returned to the kitchen to put the towel away.

"Thank you so much for inviting me, Hikari-San." Shizuka smiled as she finally stood from the table. "Everything was wonderful and I really enjoyed tonight."

"Oh, come here, my dear." Hikari smiled and pulled the girl into a hug, planting a kiss on both her cheeks "You are welcome here anytime."

"Thank you." Shizuka blushed and took a step back bumping up against Genma's chest who gave her a brief hug around her waist before he moved to give his mother a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, Ka-San." Genma said quietly before stepping back and wrapping his arm around Shizuka's waist and propped his chin on her head. "I'll be back sometime this week for lunch."

"Alright. Take care, both of you." Hikari followed behind the pair as they shuffled to the door to put on their shoes. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight!" The couple answered as they finished getting ready and leaving the apartment and walking down the stairs of the building.

"Your mom is incredible."

"She is." Genma nodded a soft smile playing on his lips as he tugged her closer to his side as they walked down the street, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"She's also watching from her window."

"Of course she is." Genma mumbled, looking upwards and waving at his mother who ducked her head back inside while Shizuka muffled her laughter against his shoulder.

"So, the senbon is because of spinach?"

Genma pinched her side causing her to squeal and jump away from him, laughter bubbling out of her.

"I had fun." Shizuka giggled as she linked up their arms again as they continued towards their street. "Though I'm starting to fear what she and my mom will do when they meet."

Genma groaned and gave her a pouty look which made Shizuka laugh again, this time Genma joining her.

The couple exchanged funny scenarios and ideas all the way home, their laughter only turning into quiet giggles as they entered the silent Nara compound.

"Goodnight, doe." Genma chuckles finally settle but his smile is still as wide as it had been at the start of the conversation. "I'll see you around."

"Goodnight, Gen." She smiled before leaning up to give him a kiss before pulling away and waving at him as he turned to walk out of the compound.

"Shizuka." Shizuka blinked in surprise as her father opened the front door, not having realised he was downstairs. "Inoichi has requested you for an emergency mission."

"I just got back!" Shizuka frowned and followed her father inside. "Does it have to do with what I found before I left on patrol?"

"Yes, we found a new leak."

"Another one! And so soon after the last."

"Yes, it is troubling, but we need someone who already knows of the situation and that we can trust to deal with this quietly." Shikaku sighed as he gave her the scroll. "Any preference on who goes with you?"

"Kaito and Shun if possible. I know Emiko is out of the village, I would ask for Masaru but I believe he is out too."

"Alright, get them immediately and leave as soon as you can. A deal is supposed to go down in a few days in a village just south of Hidden Waterfall."

"Alright. Give me a minute." Shizuka slipped out of her shoes and brushed past her father to get her ready-to-go mission pack in her room.

She returned to the hall dressed in her usual clothes and vest, her pack over her shoulders and boots in hand.

"I'll see you when I get back." Shizuka kissed his cheek before sitting on the small step to put on her shoes.

"Take care. I expect a verbal debrief when you return." Shikaku gave her hair a pat, tugging at her ponytail since she hadn't had time to put it in its usual braid.

"I will. See you soon." Shizuka smiled up at him and left the door at a brisk jog to fetch her teammates.

* * *

A week and a half later Shizuka found herself back in the village reporting straight to the Hokage in his office with her father, Inoichi and Ibiki there as well.

"Well done all of you." The Hokage answered his eyes appraising each of the shinobi in front of him. "To have completed three missions instead of one is quite a feat."

Shizuka winces as her teammates sent her mock glares from where the stood at her sides.

"All in a day's work." The young Nara shrugged, her eyes darting to her superiors all of whom had varying levels of amusement in their expression.

"Emiko, Kaito, you're both dismissed. Shizuka, we need to discuss the implications to the task force." The Hokage quickly dismissed the other two shinobi who bowed respectfully before leaving the building likely towards the hospital to have their own wounds looked at.

"More details now, please." Her father gestured at her, to begin with her complete findings, his hands extended towards her, expecting a scroll he knew she would have prepared.

"The first real difference is that I did recognize the civilian selling information. He works at the hospital, as a pharmacist, I've picked up prescriptions from him before." Shizuka explained as she reached into her back pouch to grab the scroll with her notes through the mission and passing it on to her father who passed it to the Hokage.

Their leader opened the scroll and scanned the contents momentarily before looking back at her with an expectant look.

"Please continue, I'd much rather hear this than read it." The Kage gestured at her to continue and leaned back in his chair.

"He was selling information to a shinobi from a village I didn't originally recognise." Shizuka glanced between the men before powering through with her report. "The headband depicted a sound note, which I know you all have information on."

The men in her may have been too experienced to let any emotion show on their face but she had the advantage of her sensory abilities which gave her the faintest trace of emotions through their chakra.

It was an ability Shizuka had used instinctively growing up and only towards signatures she knew very well. Her father and Inoichi were the two easiest to read, and she spent enough time with Ibiki and guarding the Hokage that she had a fairly good grasp on their patterns. Although she would never dream of claiming to be able to read them properly or any more than what they allowed, she still could pinpoint the minute shifts in the patterns from three of the males.

Ibiki's chakra just focused on hers and hardened. Working with torture as often as he did he guarded information carefully and didn't like when people assumed or figured anything out about him.

Inoichi's chakra jumped, he was surprised she would jump to such a conclusion but what gave the fact away that she had indeed hit the nail on the head and that they knew about this strange knew village was that her father's signature _sighed_.

She couldn't think of a better way to describe it. He probably expected her to find out eventually either by being brought into what she assumed was a completely separate secret task force or by just stumbling across it either in curiosity or through a mission. In this case both.

The Hokage, on the other hand, was beyond her league in the matter. He shut it off the moment she started explaining as he probably figured she would try to read it. Shizuka may have a highly ranked sensory ability, but the man before her was a Kage and he probably knew every trick in the book on how to deal with people like her. Especially because he had been trained by Senju Tobirama, probably the most powerful sensor Konoha had ever seen.

"In any case, I decided to see where this foreign ninja was going and we followed him to a base, the lab was full of shinobi which we engaged without any major difficulties." Shizuka resisted the urge to reach for the bandages under her sleeves. "A couple of injuries and some non-lethal toxins, which have already started to wear off, none of the shinobi there were really geared for battle."

"They were doing research." Inoichi stated, his eyes darting to the other men briefly as Shizuka nodded. "I assume everything is sealed in the standard procedure?"

"Hai, and I made a note of what I found to be more pertinent." Shizuka squared her shoulders for the next part. "One of my CIs had given me information on an individual who had a couple of labs in the area."

"You know about Orochimaru." This time it was the Hokage who spoke, his voice firm and his eyes again narrowed on her. "This is above your clearance level."

"I imagined. In all honesty, I only realised it was Orochimaru's base after we actually found it. And this informant was supposed to tell me about the drug operation and human trafficking rumours from the other task force I was involved in."

"So everything _is_ connected then." Her father sighed, his hand reaching up to scratch his chin in thought. "We had suspicions, but no concrete proof. Your CI, how are they getting the information?"

"They drop off the info at a safe point I send my summons to every two weeks. He is a travelling mercenary and always has his ears to the ground, he was in contact with the Orochimaru's faction for a while but his comrades were killed so he keeps an eye on things for me."

"You trust them?" Ibiki grunted his eyes now moving over the scroll she had written.

"With my life." She could feel the apprehension from the three of them so she decided to try to ease their doubts a little. "His information has yet to lead me astray, I knew what I was going to see when I went into the lab and I kept my teammates from seeing the _experiments_."

Now _that_ got them to visibly react. Ibiki exhaled harshly, her father and uncle's eyes soften and their head bowed slightly and the Hokage _flinched_.

"In any case, they are none the wise to what was truly going on."

"And the rogue ninja that attacked, any suspicions on them?" Ibiki asked as he flicked through the pages of different bingo books Shizuka had marked as their opponents.

"No, I haven't heard of any of them before. I will drop a request to the Spectrum, but I don't believe that will be of much use."

"Alright, I expect this to be in your personal report, although I would like it as soon as possible, you can submit the Spectrum's information later." Her father gave her a look which she nodded firmly before turning to the other three in the room expecting their comments.

"If you could submit a copy of this report and any information you later gather directly to me, and I assume Inoichi and Ibiki would like one as well." The Sandaime glanced briefly around the room before focusing on the young shinobi before them.

"Since you are already involved, Shikaku and Inoichi will fill you in. This task force is as of now only between us five, Commander Jackal and Jiraiya." Hiruzen's wise eyes were locked with hers, the weight of his words wasn't lost in her mind. "We are yet to discover any concrete plans, only speculations, although as one of our most promising intel gatherers I have hope you will be a valuable asset to have in the loop."

"Hai, Hokage-sama. I'll do my best." Shizuka bowed deeply at the waist before standing up straight wincing as she felt one of her wounds start bleeding again.

"Anything else can wait until tomorrow, you should go straight to the hospital to have those injuries checked out." The Hokage's lips twitched into a grandfatherly smile as he watched her shift to her uninjured leg. "You may go now, I'm sure you are anxious to be home."

"Thank you, Hokage-Sama. Tō-San, Inoichi-Oji-San, Ibiki-San, let me know what time to meet tomorrow." Shizuka bowed her head and walked out of the office with a minor limp.

Moving through the corridors she bumped into Hayate who held her shoulders before she could topple to the ground.

"Shizuka-chan, welcome back." Hayate coughed as he looked over her form. "You okay?"

"Injured, on the way to the hospital though." Shizuka sighed and smiled thankfully at him when he released her shoulder once he was sure she wouldn't collapse.

"Iryō ninjutsu, that sucks. Especially when you are already tired." A quiet voice commented from behind Hayate, bringing Shizuka's attention to the man. "Hi, Shizuka-chan, you still haven't asked for help with the sensing thing."

"Hey! I've been busy. But I have a feeling I'll be in the village more so we can set something up soon."

"I'll hold you to it." Tonbo snickered before he shifted forward slightly to help her as he felt her chakra falter for a moment. "You should really get to the hospital. You have been poisoned, a slow-acting chakra irritant I believe."

"Ah, that explains why it feels foggy." Shizuka sighed as she swayed only to squeak when she was hoisted onto the back of someone. "Oi, Grizzly! Where did you come from."

"You must be out of it if you can't even recognize me!" Raidō gave the arm over his shoulder a pat as he adjusted her position on his back. "Hayate, Tonbo I'll meet you guys at the gate in an hour, I'll just drop this one off at the hospital. Genma would kill us otherwise."

"Bye Hayate, Tonbo! So, Gen is still in the village? Thought he would have gotten a mission by now." Shizuka mumbled as she got comfortable in the piggyback she was receiving, her chin on Raidō's shoulder.

"Hai. Which reminds me a group of our friends are meeting at the Target bar tonight, if you aren't too tired to drop by I'm sure Genma would _love_ to see you." Raidō teased as he left the building and jumped to the roof to reach the hospital faster. "What did Tonbo mean by iryō ninjutsu sucking?"

"Sensors are sensitive to chakra, iryō ninjutsu means using your chakra on someone else in a purer form than a jutsu. That means _foreign_ chakra in a place we know there shouldn't be."

"So what do you feel exactly? Like one of those headaches you complain about when we have you push to the limits?"

"Yeah, sometimes. But the more chakra infused it progresses more into nausea. And they can't exactly use more chakra to take that away because it won't help, it'll waste chakra and because of how our networks work iryō ninjutsu often makes me weaker."

"Because the chakra isn't actually yours so it just confuses your system." Raidō hums in understanding as they jump back to the street level and walk the last few metres. "There is a specific technique to ease the headache, but that's because it's easier to deal with than nausea which is more of an irritation to my chakra pathways."

"So the toxin in you right now?"

"Will just make me nauseous faster. But I can deal with that at home. Thank you for the ride. I'll see you when you get back." Shizuka slid off his back and gave him a brief hug before a nurse he had apparently waved down showed up with a wheelchair.

Not having the energy to complain she slumped into the chair and let herself be carted away to a room, answering the questions between yawns and curse as they started prodding at the bandaged cuts from the mission.

She only vaguely remembers Asami giving her a disappointed glare as she helped deal with the toxin in her blood before she promptly passed out.

* * *

Six hours later, she woke up to find it was just a couple hours past noon and that someone had left her a note by her bedside.

' _Your sensei is sick and alone at home. He's a terrible cook and I'm stuck here. Go feed him._

 _Your favourite nurse'_

Sighing she stood from the cot she had been sleeping in and stretched lazily before shuffling into the attached bathroom for a shower and a change of clothes she retrieved from her pack that had been placed on the chair beside the bed.

Once she was finished she redid the wrapping on her arm and thigh, thankful that they were easy enough locations that she wouldn't need help with. She waved lazily at the people she passed in the hallway as she moved to sign her release forms.

Normally doctors asked that patients stay a while after being poisoned but truly when most of their clients were paranoid and hated the hospital they didn't complain much when you actually signed your release forms.

Normally shinobi just ran away. Usually through the windows.

The Nara let her thoughts wander as she went through the motions to reach the market and pick out ingredients for lunch. Before she knew it she had arrived at her sensei's apartment with an arm full of groceries and having no hands free she kicked the door softly to get his attention.

"Shizuka?" Kouta opened the door while still wearing his casual clothes. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard you got injured during your last mission at the hospital and decided to come to cook lunch since Asami-San is on call."

Kouta sighed and stepped back allowing her to shuffle into the apartment before taking the bags from her arms as she moved to take off her shoes.

"What are we having then?"

"Miso soup and chicken katsu curry." Shizuka called as she walked into the kitchen as her sensei took the ingredients out of the bags and put them on the counter.

"Sounds good. What do you need me to help with?" Kouta hummed as he watched Shizuka open different cupboards.

"Cut the veggies and season them for some light cooking in the oven."

"Hai, captain."

Shizuka snickered and moved to prepare the miso while her sensei started on her instructions.

"Why were you at the hospital?"

"Check up after a boring mission." Shizuka mumbled. "So, Asami-San has been helping you here at home. Anything you need to tell me on that front?"

"Shizuka…" Kouta sighed but Shizuka just hummed absentmindedly as she moved about his kitchen. "If you must know, your ploy worked. Asami and I are together."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Shizuka deadpanned before she smiled over at him. "But that's wonderful! You two make a wonderful couple."

"I'm sure you don't."

"So tell me, who confronted each other first?"

Kouta sighed and told her everything from the start of her setups all the way to the point Asami accused him of not doing anything to his former students who were clearly messing with them.

"So I told her I was actually doing it because I enjoyed her company and not because of you three brats."

"I'd feel insulted at being called a brat, but that's so cute! I'm very happy for both of you!" Shizuka cooed as they finally sat at Kouta's high counter with their food.

"I suppose we both need to thank you three for your persistence." Kouta smiled and shook his head. "Now, how are you and Genma?"

"Oh! We are great! We've had dinner with my parents and his mother on separate occasions, so now the next move is introducing our mothers."

"So your plan to slowly introduce him worked? No drama from your overprotective father and brother? What about Daichi-San?"

"Father gave him a 'talk' but I fairly certain Chōza-Oji has been helping out on his side. Shikamaru is just annoyed we don't have as much time for shogi and cloud watching, he'll get over it. Daichi-Oji is yet to return, but he is due back in the next month or so."

Kouta hummed and pushed his empty soup bowl up the counter and pulled his rice and curry closer.

"Speaking of couples, do you know if Kaito and Masaru bought the flat they had been looking at?" Kouta asked between bites of his food.

"Kai was on the mission with me and Masa was away too, but I think they will sign the contract sometime soon." Shizuka grinned. "Kai couldn't stop grinning when he told me he and Masa were moving in together."

"Yes, it looks like all three of my little Genin of team four have officially grown up." Kouta hummed his eyes crinkling as he smiled. "Though I'm glad at least you didn't grow past my shoulders."

"Sensei!"

After finishing her lunch with her sensei and helping him with the dishes, despite his repeated words that she didn't have to, Shizuka bid him goodbye as she headed home for a shower and her reports and possibly a nap before she went out to meet her friends.

* * *

It was a quiet afternoon, filled with her writing two reports, one for the patrol and one for the emergency mission, and a long hot shower. In the end, she didn't have time for a nap, but the thought of seeing Genma and her friends after the week she had made up for the lack of one.

Later that evening Shizuka entered the bar with Kaito by her side as they had run into each other on the way and they both immediately look around for Masaru. Kaito is the first to spot their third team member standing by some of the older Jōnin's table and lead them in that direction. As she approaches their booth she smiles and gives a small wave.

"Hey, doe! How was your mission?" Genma smiles, his eyes roaming over her figure, lingering particularly on the leg she seemed to be favouring and the bandages peeking out from under her long sleeves.

"Boring. I didn't even have time to make a map…" Shizuka answered, giving her boyfriend a reassuring smile before sitting next to him, his arm immediately going over her shoulder to allow her to sit closer.

"That's because you just had to follow the smell of dumplings past a dark alley and managed to witness the people who were selling the information right in front of you." Kaito pinched the bridge of his nose, causing the shinobi around them to laugh as Shizuka just shrugged.

"Seriously? You just walked right into the exchange?" Masaru, who had returned from his mission a couple of days earlier asked, laughter shining in his eyes. "Must be a record on how fast you finished."

"Yeah, but then when we were checking the base of the buyer for the cleanup she," Kaito jerked his thumb at the girl, "Had to find this box of odd chemicals when we finished cataloguing their base and it caught on fire. Labs and fires don't mix so we ran out only for the base to explode. And to top it all off some rogue-nins that were in the area heard the explosion and came to investigate leading to more fighting."

Kaito took a deep breath after his rant, a firm glare set on Shizuka who shrugged and sent him a sheepish smile.

"Boring, huh?" Kouta-sensei stopped next to the table having heard the story as he walked past their table on his way to a group of older Jōnin sitting a few tables away. "I sometimes miss going on missions with you squirts, but then I hear these stories and I'm glad you're all out of the 'nest'."

"She's almost as bad as your team, Kakashi." Asuma chuckled, prompting the silver-haired Jōnin to look up from his book.

"What's this now, Kakashi-Senpai?" Shizuka leaned forward propping her elbows on the table.

"C-Rank escort mission turned B-Rank right after leaving the village and then turned A-Rank when we got to the Land of Waves."

Masaru let out a low whistle, while Shizuka looked infinitely amused and Kaito just had a wide-eyed expression.

"See, Kouta-sensei, it could have been much worse." Shizuka smiled brightly at her sensei who looked horrified for a second before he shook his head and walked away. "And that's karma, Kakashi, you've avoided missions with us because of our propensity for trouble and now your team is even worse."

"You mean _your_ propensity for attracting trouble, right, doe?" Genma chuckled giving her shoulder a nudge, earning himself a mock glare from her.

"Not my fault my missions turn interesting." Shizuka sniffed before she looked around the table. "So, besides badly ranked missions, what else has been going on?"

"Actually, Shizuka, we were just talking about the Chūnin exams." Asuma leaned forward gesturing around the table with his beer bottle.

"Oh! Wait, you're recommending your teams?" Shizuka's eyes widened as she caught on to what he was suggesting. "It's been less than six months!"

"It is a bit early." Masaru shrugged and took a swig of his drink before continuing. "Then again, you and Kaito could probably have passed six months into team four."

"There's still what, a month and a half until the exams? The teams this year are promising and with that time they can be polished and ready to have their first crack at it." Kaito nodded along, shrugging when Shizuka turned to look at him with a surprised expression.

"I agree. But you three will have quite the couple of weeks ahead of you." Shizuka shook herself out of her momentary trance surprising the others. "What! Asuma-San's team's teamwork should push them through, Kurenai-San's team also seems pretty solid and Kakashi-Senpai's… Well, their luck will work both ways if their anything like us."

"Speaking of polishing up the team, would you mind helping out with Ino-Shika-Chō for training this week?"

"Oh! I heard from Tsume-San that you are the one to go to if you want to test someone's tracking ability. I was wondering if you could put my team through a test?" Kurenai jumped in, her red eyes glinting.

"Oh, uh, sure?" Shizuka shrugged. "Tsume-San is exaggerating, I assure you, but I'll gladly help."

"Since we are all piling you with more work, I suppose Sasuke could use some training against someone who knows the tricks of the Sharingan." Kakashi pitched in, his eye darting up from his book for a moment to give her an eye smile.

"And what do I get in return, Kakashi-Senpai?"

"I could probably pass along another lightning jutsu or two."

"Deal."

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments!**

 **Arkytior's Song**

Hello again! Aaawwww! Thank you thank you thank you! Your reviews never fail to make me smile!

I'll make a note of it and if I do a flashback chapter (there are a couple of other scenes that were recommended to me too) I'll definitely add that one in. :D

Also, I will personally give you a heads up for the thing I mentioned in my PM! xD

 **HiddenYori**

Thank you! I'm so happy so many people have enjoyed watching their relationship develop :D

 **Leannn**

Hellooooo! Thank you agaaiiiin! Hahahha I mentioned that one specifically because I've already written it XD It's in chapter 34. Poor Shikaku! I have a couple of ideas for his reactions and I'll be sneaking them in between scenes. Hopefully, you all like them.

 **Whitney1995**

Heyyy! No worries, I've been busy on a field trip and with the upcoming exam season.

*hugs you* thank youuuuuuu! I've been receiving lovely comments about their relationship and it always makes me smile so much! Hahahhaha you are right, that would be pretty hilarious.

 **Candice**

Hello again! And thank you again!

All of them are very good ideas and I can say that quite a few of them have already been planned and will be seen in later chapters. The Jiraiya one made me laugh, if it fits in the context I might just add a comment on it XD

 **Nella-mangalover93**

Hahahaha welcome back!

Yes! She's surprisingly good at networking xD She just gave up on reacting to it. Thank you! I love writing their interactions. We will be seeing more scenes where we see other perspectives. Hahahah Kakashi and Shizuka will have some fun interactions in the near future ;P

 **Lexxxloubell**

AAAWWWW! Thank youuuuu! It makes me sooo happy to hear from you readers! And makes me even happier when I see how excited you all are to continue reading. :D

 **xx**

 **Thanks for the comments!**


	34. The Rookies

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **100 reviews! Thank you all so much! I love hearing from all of you. :D**

 **Again I'm sorry for the two-week wait, but I'm still in a rather busy period at uni so the two-week wait for the next chapter will continue. Probably will be like that for the next two updates before updates return to their weekly schedule.**

 **xx**

 **Thanks! And hope you enjoy!**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 34 - The Rookies**

Shizuka was glad to be allowed back to her normal duties once she had time to rest from her intense past weeks. She was scheduled only for two missions in the next month and a half, one of which was supposed to last less than a week.

Inside the village, she had to get updated on the Orochimaru task force which took almost three days of meetings and reading what felt like hundreds of files.

In her downtime, she was enlisted by the rookie nine senseis to help out in one manner or the other for their team's preparation for the chūnin exams.

' _Not that they know why their training has intensified.'_ Shizuka thought as she waited for her opponents to make a move. _'Though they will be told next week.'_

Suddenly she dodged around Chōji attack and Shika's shadow while knocking Ino's kunai off course with a sharp grin on her face.

"Damnit! Even with the three attacking simultaneously we can't catch her." Shikamaru grumbled as his sister pushed Chōji a few meters away before she turned to look at him and Ino.

"It _is_ to be expected, Shikamaru, she is, after all, a Jōnin." Asuma commented from where he was sitting to observe the spar with a cigarette in mouth.

"Tokujō, I haven't taken the Jōnin exam." Shizuka pointed out while picking at a loose thread from her shirt.

"Your taijutsu and speed are still at a Jōnin level, even if your strength and Genjutsu aren't there yet." Asuma put the cigarette out and stood, dusting himself off, probably tired of watching them get beat back. "Tell you what, I'll join in on this last round, but it's still Shikamaru calling the shots. Shizuka and I aren't allowed to attack with Genjutsu or Ninjutsu."

Shizuka raised an eyebrow and shrugged while reaching for her tantōs as Asuma took his trench knives out. Even without using chakra flow Shizuka knew that she'd have to take care when defending his strikes.

"Alright, standard formation." Shikamaru called as he reformed the rat sign his shadows activating.

In a matter of seconds, Shizuka had to parry Asuma's blades as well as dodge Chōji's attempt at grabbing her to keep her in place.

"Shizuka you're not supposed to use ninjutsu!" Shikamaru called out as his shadow was detached from her using her chakra to block his attempt.

Shizuka laughed and kicked back at Chōji causing him to slide a distance away before spinning the leg to kick Asuma only to have him capture her leg. With his hand grasping her ankle she bent back to touch her hands to the ground and using the momentum to kick her other leg at his chest forcing him to release her and step back.

She launched straight into a somersault and Asuma was already attacking her, their blades clashing against each other.

"Asuma-San said to not attack, never mentioned anything about defending." Shizuka grinned and Asuma just snickered as Ino and Shikamaru complained from their positions at the back of the formation.

The spar continued and after twenty minutes Asuma knocked her back straight into the arms of Chōji who clasped his arms around her. Surprisingly Shikamaru and Ino broke from their usual positions and came closer to her.

From the closer range, Shikamaru had much better control over his shadows and made keeping her in place easier. Ino's transition into her mind was also faster which means they 'won'.

' _Got it!'_ Ino mentally high fived her before releasing the jutsu and returning to her body.

Shizuka opened her eyes to see Ino sitting up with the help of Asuma's knee behind her and Chōji and Shikamaru just next to them.

"Not bad." Shizuka praised as she ruffled their hair on her way to the porch where Asuma had been sitting previously. Team ten and their sensei followed and made themselves comfortable on the wooden floor.

"You and Asuma-sensei still have handicaps." Ino huffed as she started off the usual meeting post training. "The weights you're wearing are keeping you to what half speed?"

"Just about, yeah. But as Asuma-San said, my speed isn't a good comparison point. Your attacks still are faster than any average Genin."

"Our class isn't an average class." Shikamaru continued before shrugging and leaning black on his hands. "Fast opponents are hard to catch and strong opponents are hard to keep down until we can lock them with Ino's Mind Transfer."

"Fortunately they have basically the same solution: increase speed." Asuma pointed out before turning to Chōji. "And you, Chōji?"

"I didn't struggle as much as I expected to keep Shizuka-Nee once I got a solid grip, but the weights also affect that."

"Alright, so physical training needs to increase." Asuma hummed as he watched each before turning to Shizuka. "Anything to add?"

"Teamwork is spot on, as long as you increase your speeds, the gaps between each step will close." Shizuka smiled at them as they showed their pride at her compliment. "Although I do think you should each have another speciality up your sleeve. Ino-Shika-Chō formations are well known, no matter how creative you get with the plan, it's good to have a trump card at the start."

"Like you did with your blades." Shikamaru hummed in understanding, drawing the attention of the other two. "And your ninjutsu."

"Hai. Most Nara's don't have more than one elemental nature mastered, only a handful ever have three. I think right now only five Nara's have three elements down."

"What do you recommend, Shizuka-nee?" Ino asked as she shuffled around to stretch her legs.

"Well, Chōji, your father has a bō staff. Inoichi-Oji has some great ninjutsu and Tō-San is surprisingly good at Genjutsu, although I'm fairly certain he's trained with at least a katana before."

"Wait, really?" Shikamaru and Ino pitched forward at the information on their fathers.

"Hai, Inoichi-Oji helped me with sensory training as well as water ninjutsu, though I'll never master that." Shizuka grimaced as she remembered the gruelling hours trying to get the water element at a field level. "Genjutsu means not moving that much, of course Tō-San would look into it."

"But once they got stronger they didn't need to use those anymore because their Ino-Shika-Chō combinations did the job for them and the others became extras." Asuma nodded along to Shizuka's explanation. "You need these to ensure you are more rounded and to beat expectations."

Asuma gave Shizuka a nod as she thought on Ino's original question.

"As to what I would recommend… Chōji you are a close-range fighter, pick a weapon to try out, ask your father, I'm sure Chōza-Oji tried a couple before settling for the bō."

"Yes, although you'd also be a good match for ninjutsu, it'll fit with this particular team's dynamic." Asuma agreed before turning to the other two. "Both of you would do well in those, I'd recommend genjutsu for Ino and ninjutsu for Shikamaru."

"Though again, you're all expected to know at least one element if you can." Shizuka added giving her brother a look as he mumbled about the training they would need.

"Can you do that thing, Shizuka-Nee? The one where you tell us our natures?" Chōji asked shyly, his eyes darting to his hands before looking at Shizuka's face only to see her smile making him relax. "I heard Tō-San and Ka-San talking once about it."

"Well, it's not too effective when you're not actually using a jutsu, but I can give you an idea. Although I'd recommend proper chakra paper to confirm." Shizuka agreed and shuffled back to lean on the wooden column holding the roof above their heads.

"Ah, I've never actually seen you do this." Asuma hummed as he observed the younger shinobi with an inquisitive look. "How does it work exactly?"

"Well, chakra signatures are all unique to a person, but they have similar notes in terms of natures. Again it's better when they are actually using a jutsu, but their main affinities normally leave a note in their signatures." Shizuka explained before closing her eyes and reaching her senses towards her brother's. "Shika's chakra reminds me of a bonfire, so I'd guess fire."

The four observed as Shizuka's face twitched as her attention changed, apparently having more trouble with the next one.

"Chōji although yours also is warm it's by far _bulkier_ , though that could be a product of your inclination towards Yang release, the physical part of chakra. Your father is fire so I suppose you also have that." Shizuka opened an eye to look at him before closing it right after their eyes met. "Ino yours is cooler and smoother, I'd guess water. But as I said it's only one hundred percent accurate when actually using jutsu, and even then I need to be in close range and fairly familiar with the signature."

"Don't I get an analysis?" Asuma teased as he pulled out his lighter ignoring as the two female wrinkled their noses.

"I already know yours, wind affinity and fire as a secondary, though I'm pretty sure you can use at least one more." Shizuka rolled her eyes before she let her head fall back against the column she was leaning against.

"You said it yourself, a trump card is always good." Asuma laughed as Shizuka glared at him. "Good job today, we should grab something to eat before going for a mission in the afternoon."

The three Genin groaned at the suggestion of a D-rank mission, a chore in reality, but they still got to their feet and moved around the porch to exit the compound.

"Have fun!" Shizuka called as she closed her eyes again for a quick nap before she had to get ready for some meetings at Intel.

* * *

Two days later Shizuka found herself waiting at the gates for Kurenai's team to arrive as they had agreed to meet there for their training exercise. The plan was to head a few miles out of Konoha and the three Genin were supposed to track Shizuka down before dinner came around and they had to return to the village.

Shizuka had pulled on her black pants and the long sleeve turtleneck shirt she normally wore under her ANBU vest. She didn't bother with a backpack and instead simply used the large standard pack on her lower back and a weapons pouch strapped to each leg.

Shino was the first to arrive and if it wasn't for her sensory ability she wouldn't have heard him approach.

"Nara-San. It's nice to meet you. Shun-San speaks highly of you." Shino's voice was quiet but clear, something Shizuka recognised as a pattern amongst his clan.

"Shino-Kun, your cousin has mentioned your talents as well. Please, Shizuka is fine." Shizuka gave him a smile and a nod of the head before she turned to wave at Kurenai and Hinata who were approaching. "Kurenai-chan, good morning. Hinata-chan it is nice to meet you."

"Shizuka-San nice to meet you too." Hinata stuttered softly but not as bad as she expected from hearing Shikamaru's descriptions of his classmates.

"Shizuka-chan, thank you for your help." Kurenai greeted the younger girl with a friendly smile. "How's Genma?"

"Good. How's Asuma?" Shizuka raised her eyebrow at Kurenai before they both chuckled. "It's alright, I've worked with tracking units before so I've got a few tricks to teach."

Kurenai opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by the sound of thundering feet approaching. In a matter of seconds, the last member of team 8 and his ninken were before them, hands on his knees as he panted.

"Just in time." Kiba panted, Akamaru barked in agreement before the hyper kid looked up at the Nara. "Shizuka-chan! Good seeing you again! My sister sends a threat that if you don't let her know when you are available to train she wake you up early to do so."

"Hai, hai." Shizuka waved her hands at him dismissively before grinning at him and reaching out to scratch the little dog under the chin for a moment. "Good to see you too, Kiba-kun. Hi Akamaru!"

"Alright, now that everyone is here, we should be going." Kurenai ushered them through the gates and into the trees. "Now, Shizuka-chan, why don't you explain their challenge."

"Okay, so basically you three will have an entire day to track me down. And if you find me we spar. Depending on how much time left we either return a bit earlier or find another task to do."

"I'll be following to keep an eye on things, but I'm not supposed to help so you pretend I'm not there." Kurenai supplied when the Genin turned to her. "Now, remember Shizuka-chan is a Tokujō and you shouldn't underestimate her."

"Hai, Sensei!" The three Genin chorused before they launched into questioning them on what else they should know about the challenge and if they could get any hints on her ability.

"She's a powerful sensor." Shun supplied from his position at the back of the group.

"She's fast, Hana-nee says its a pain to do speed drills with her." Kiba added and Akamaru barked in agreement.

Hinata stayed quiet but nodded as her teammates commented on what they heard about Shizuka. While Shizuka just watched on with a smile twitching at her lips.

"Alright, we're here. We are staying in the ten-mile radius with this here being the centre. " Kurenai jumped back to the ground almost two hours after they left the village. "Shizuka you have five minutes as a head start, go!"

Shizuka gave the team a sharp grin before using the body flicker three times consecutively before launching into a run. She spent some time laying false trails and gave her summons fake trails to tread and traps to set up.

Then she found the nearest stream and covered herself in mud and a couple of plants while also changing into one of her uncle's shirts, a scent Kiba was unlikely to recognise.

She made sure she had no bugs on her and proceeded to conceal her chakra before melting into the shadows. She found a comfortable place to settle and reached out to sense for the Genin.

She found them reasonably fast her range having expanded ever since she started properly training it. The Hokage had kindly let her read some of the Nidaime's notes on his own sensing ability and it never ceased to amaze her the range the man had had. After years of training with the sensory team and being able to better understand her ability, she could go as far as twenty miles, still only one-third of the second Hokage's range.

Shaking her head she focused on the signatures she was looking for as they stopped at a location to discuss what they probably realised were diversionary trails.

' _I wonder if I should have made it easier for them… Oh well, too late now.'_ Shizuka fell into a meditative state where she could keep track of them while also being slightly aware of her surroundings, although she knew one of her summons would show up to stay with her soon.

It was only a little over an hour later that the trio of Genin came close enough to trigger one of the traps that alerted her that it was time to move.

' _Alright, that took a bit less time than what I expected, but not enough for them to catch me.'_ Shizuma hummed thoughtfully as she started moving to another location.

This time around she pulled out one of Genma's shirts she had borrowed from his ANBU trunk. She smirked as she remembered his amused look when she had explained the reason and his expression twisting to annoyance when Raidō, who had been training with them, offered one of his own.

' _For the sake of your mission.'_ Shizuka snorted as she remembered Raidō's words. _'Pretty sure he just wanted to poke fun at Genma.'_

Before Shizuka had time to realise what she was doing she had already finished her new set of traps. After double checking that everything was in place and a quick check on the position of the rookies, Shizuka made the handsigns to travel through the shadows.

Ever since she started training with the jutsu she had developed much better control over it. As long as she was focused and had enough chakra she could land exactly where she wanted. She was limited by her normal range, however, in a forest the shadows were abundant which meant with enough chakra she could go relatively far.

She was currently investigating the option of travelling with the help of others and using an activated shadow by another Nara as a landing point. It was beyond complicated and from what she could tell highly chakra intensive which meant it was useless in combat, although it would be a nice trump card to have up her sleeve. She still hadn't given up and despite her father's grumbles he still helped when he could.

Once Shizuka reached her next destination she again made herself comfortable amongst the high tree branches, this time she pulled out a scroll instead of meditating.

The whole process of moving locations happened three times more before the time ran out. That was one time more than what Shizuka had expected, but she always packed extra materials though she did have to improvise with her traps. She even had to resort to a few more complicated ones that would take too long in a situation like this, her only advantage being that she had a head start large enough to make it possible.

Once the time ran out, Shizuka made her way to where they had set the meeting point where the three Genin and their sensei were already waiting, talking softly amongst themselves.

"Not bad." Shizuka grinned as she landed in the little clearing they were sitting around. "I must admit I only expected to settle in four locations but had to add an extra stop at the end."

"You changed your scent." Kiba complained and Akamaru bobbed his head a soft whine sounding as he echoed his partner's sentiment.

"I changed clothes and washed the perfume I had been wearing previously. It probably hid most of my natural scent." Shizuka shrugged and then turned to Hinata who had raised her hand politely.

"I couldn't see you. You're very good at concealing your chakra." If Shizuka wasn't standing a couple of meters from the girl she would have missed what she said from how softly it was spoken.

"I'm a sensor, while I'm good at concealing myself it's likely my sensory range is still larger than your byakugan sight, which is likely why you didn't see me." Shizuka shrugged before she observed the Hyūga heiress. "You have the potential to expand your range by a large amount which would take that advantage from me."

"And I must admit your best shot was Shino's kikaichū, but I've trained enough with his cousin to know a couple of tricks around it." Shizuka pulled out a little box of a solid that looked like soap. "Specifically what keeps them away, this soap is made of a plant that is toxic to them, it also causes skin irritation, so I only carry it with me."

"You had a sliver of it under your headband." Shino deduced. "And you know enough about them to track them as well."

"Yes, small enough to drive a sensor crazy when we keep seeing little points of chakra everywhere, but my plan had one issue."

"I could have followed where my bugs wouldn't go." Shino realized before he turned to explain to his teammates who had slightly confused expressions on their faces. "If I realised she had the repeller I could have sent you two into the area and used my bugs to surround it."

"Which would lock her into a specific area, and wherever the fault in the bugs was it's where you would be inside." Hinata nodded thoughtfully as she finished Shino's train of thought. "Why take the risk, Shizuka-San?"

"I had backup plans to escape and his plan would likely mean your team had to split up, which I was fairly certain you wouldn't do." Shizuka looked up to the darkening sky. "I can't say not splitting up was the wrong call. Your task was to catch me and that implied a fight once you found me, even with three of you it would be a challenge."

"Well played, Shizuka-chan." Kurenai shook her head as her team fell into a contemplating silence. "What is your overall impression?"

"You have a talented bunch that is sure to surpass past tracking teams. Hinata's eyes are sharp, at first, I found myself second guessing my estimations on her range. Kiba-kun kept track of my fake scent trails for longer than what I anticipated and Shino has a sharp mind that had me doubling up on my defences."

"Why don't you explain everything on our way back, I'm sure we are all looking forward to proper food and a bed." Kurenai smiles as her team accepted the compliments with smiles and nods.

The group started to make their way back to the village at a slower pace than at the start of the day with Shizuka and Kurenai giving them pointers on what they had observed.

It didn't take them long to enter through the gates signing back into the village.

"You owe us a spar, Shizuka-chan!" Kiba called once they made it to where they would split up to their own homes.

"Sorry, Kiba-kun, I'll be quite busy for the foreseeable future." Shizuka ruffled the boy's hair as he pouted. "Tell your sister that I'll stop by soon to arrange something."

Kiba grumbled his agreement and walked off with Shino who gave her a polite nod before they disappeared around the corner.

"Thank you for your help." Kurenai smiled as the Nara turned back to her. "I'll see you when you return. Good luck on your mission tomorrow."

"No worries! I'm happy to help. Thank you, we should organise a day out with Yūgao and Anko soon, I'm going to need a day at the spa after the next few weeks." Shizuka wrinkled her nose making Kurenai laugh and agree. "Goodnight, Hinata-chan."

"Goodnight, Shizuka-san and thank you for today." Hinata gave her a small smile before walking towards her compound with Kurenai.

Shizuka watched them for a few seconds before turning in the opposite direction and heading home her mind settling on the list of things she needed to ensure were packed for her mission the following day.

* * *

Genma had been careful in keeping Shizuka away from Gai at the start of their relationship. Shizuka was easy going that she'd get along with most people and it's not as if she hadn't met her fair share of eccentric ninja over the course of her career.

She had met Ebisu before they had ever been a couple as Ebisu was recommended to her to ask for if she had a question in regards to any theoretical knowledge. The pair had spent a fair amount of time discussing sensory techniques and chakra nature and how they would show in someone's chakra. Because of this, they were on friendly terms and the man was still someone Shizuka would consider asking for help in anything theoretical.

However, with the second teammate, Maito Gai, it was a completely different story. Gai was well known for his exuberant personality and friendly attitude and although Shizuka was friendly she tended to show more of a calm and collected side.

Genma didn't doubt they would get along. He might even fear a bit of what would happen if they did get along. In his mind's eye, he could vividly see them exchanging notes on speed and agility training exercises.

He also knew he couldn't keep them from ever meeting each other. So their meeting was inevitable but the timing could definitely have been better.

Shizuka had been walking home with Genma after they had been dismissed from the hospital after a mission turning bad. Both had a mild case of chakra exhaustion while Genma was also wearing a knee brace.

They were taking the side street close to the training grounds, which was emptier than the main road and thus easier to navigate on crutches.

"Gen… Incoming." Shizuka mumbled as she sensed the fast approach of a bright chakra signature.

"Huh?" Genma looked down at her before his eyes widened at the fast approaching cloud of dust being raised by someone running. "Oh no."

"Genma, my youthful teammate! What has happened?" The green bodysuit-clad form of Maito Gai exclaimed as he came to a full stop in front of the couple. "Oh! And his youthful partner, who I've yet to meet!"

"Hi." Shizuka waved, her eyes wide as Gai grinned a blindingly white smile and gave her a thumbs up.

"Gai…" Genma groaned, leaning his weight more fully on the crutches as he slumped forward.

"I am Maito Gai, the Green Beast of Konoha and youthful teammate of your youthful boyfriend!"

"It's nice to meet you. I've heard… a lot about you from Genma and Chōza-Oji-San."

Gai grinned and snatched her into a hug despite Genma's momentary shuffle closer to her as he realised Gai's intentions.

"Oh! I have heard much about you too, youthful shadow-wielder!" Shizuka huffed and tried to get out of his grip before going slack in acceptance to her fate.

"Oi! Gai-sensei! You're not supposed to go around hugging people." A girl's voice yelled out from behind Gai.

"Oh! This is perfect! Team Gai, meet my youthful Genin teammate Shiranui Genma and his youthful girlfriend Nara Shizuka!"

"If I ever hear the word youthful again it will be too soon." Shizuka whispered to Genma as she slid pass Gai's grasp and to her boyfriend's side.

"You'll get used to it." Genma sighed a smile tugging at his lips as Gai retold some silly memory from when they were Genin. "He grows on you."

Shizuka smiled and pressed a kiss to his cheek and glanced over at the Jōnin and his three Genin two of which had gone into a meditative trance, probably to drown out their sensei's rambling, while the other reacted animatedly to the story.

"We can slip away now, I can cover our retreat." Shizuka whispered earning herself an enthusiastic nod from Genma.

And just like that the couple escaped into a random side street, the fading sounds of the storytelling left behind.

* * *

Her following meeting with team Gai happened a couple of days later when Shizuka and Yūgao met up for a sparring session in the public training grounds instead of the ANBU ones.

Each woman had a blade in hand, Shizuka had one tantō and Yūgao had her katana. They weaved around each other with their blades flashing between them and clashing sharply before they disengaged and moved around.

Both women were faster than the average shinobi and were mere blurs to the untrained eye. Whenever they landed any blows on each other they twisted their blades so that they would hit with the flat side of their blade.

The act of restraining themselves instead of going for the lethal blows they did out on missions was good practice and forced them to always be on their guard. Even with their caution they still caused thin slices on each other's clothes and exposed skin though none warranted a trip to the healers and could be easily treated at home.

After landing a solid hit with the flat of her blade to Yūgao's shoulder and chest she pushed back and jumped back to give the purple haired woman some distance.

"We've attracted an audience." Yūgao looked surprised as she spotted the Genin team in the tree watching them with interest. "Since when have they been watching?"

"About half an hour." Shizuka tilted her head and waved at them before sheathing her blade. "I should go actually, I have a debriefing for my next mission soon."

"Hai, that's a good idea. Good luck and stay out of trouble this time." Yūgao nodded as she strapped her katana to her back. "Thanks for the spar, it's nice having someone with such a different style."

"Thank you." Shizuka smiled as they walked towards the trees where a path back to the village was hidden. "See you around, Yūgao-chan."

"See ya, Chip! Gai-San." Yūgao then waved up at Gai before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Gai-San, Lee-kun, Tenten-chan, Neji-kun, good to see you all."

"Shizuka-chan that was an impressive demonstration of skill." Gai grinned as he jumped down to stand in front of her. "My team and I were just on our way home when we saw the two of you sparring.."

"You're very skilled with that tantō." Tenten admired as her eyes darted to the sheath strapped to the Nara's back. "It's also chakra conductive, right?"

"Hai, though I rarely use that ability outside of missions." Shizuka pulled the blade out and passed it to Tenten who grinned and accepted it to observe the craftsmanship. "I normally wield two, so it's always odd when I only have one with me."

"Ah, that explains why some of your transitions were off. Although you being ambidextrous definitely helped in other situations." Tenten hummed thoughtfully as she returned the blade to its owner.

"Hai, Yūgao-chan is very skilled and knows that my shorter range means I depend on having two blades for certain blocks, so she enjoys pushing on those."

"It is a clever tactic, but good for you to train as other opponents if given the opportunity would also exploit that." Gai nodded before he turned to his other two students. "What else could Shizuka-chan depend on."

"Her speed!" The mini version of Gai exclaimed, his eyes twinkling in excitement. "You are very fast, Shizuka-San! Almost as fast as Gai-sensei!"

"Oh no! I'm pretty sure Gai can beat me rather easily, not to mention he's wearing weights, I'm not." Shizuka flushed and shook her head.

"How youthfully humble." Gai grinned at her, his teeth shining brightly in the midday sun. "I'd say that in an obstacle course where nimbleness and agility were also considered you may have had me beat, your reactions are faster."

Shizuka hummed, her eyes darting to observe the Hyūga who seemed ready to ask a question.

"Rather unusual for a Nara to take up a blade and short-range combat." Neji pointed out from his place a bit further behind his teammates.

"We all have some training with short range fighting specifically for when enemies get past our range, but you're right, most of us aren't comfortable keeping them that close." Shizuka nodded as she adjusted the strap of the sheath across her chest.

The boy just huffed and Shizuka turned back to their sensei.

"Team Gai you are all dismissed for the day. Go enjoy your youth by having a couple of hours free before dinner." Gai waved them off as they thanked him and bid them farewell.

"How is Genma-kun, has his knee brace been removed?" Gai and Shizuka fell into step as they walked into the main road, the man's seriousness a stark contrast to his usual tone.

"Hai, the medic insisted he keep it on for a week, but he grew annoyed after three days." Shizuka shrugged. "He's better, but I fear he will get bored soon as he has a lot of in village rotations for the next month."

"I'll be sure to check in on him while you are away."

"Thank you. He speaks highly of you, Gai-San."

"Please, Gai is just fine." Gai chuckled before he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. "He speaks highly of you too, I'm glad you found each other."

"I'm happy too." Shizuka glanced up and met his eyes evenly with a smile tugging at her lips. "I'm afraid I must go, I have a mission debriefing to get to. How about we arrange a training session soon? I find that while I'm above average in speed I'm painfully toeing the line in terms of physical strength."

"Deal. Take care on your mission." Gai grinned at her and gave her the thumbs up. "Come find me when you return so that we can arrange a youthful training session."

"I will." Shizuka waved at him before launching to the roofs of the village, heading straight to her father's office, knowing he would be waiting for her to finalise the mission details.

* * *

For her last mission outside the village before the start of the Chūnin Exams, Shizuka was tasked to track down and kill some of Orochimaru's minions.

With the help of one of her informants and the Spectrum, she had found three individuals who were connected with the snake Sannin through some form or the other and she had been tasked to eliminate the threats.

She expected to be away from the village for two and a half weeks and she was making good time across the Northern parts of the Land of Fire in search of her third, and last, target.

' _I might even make it a day earlier if everything goes according to plan and I make full speed back.'_ Shizuka hummed happily at the mere thought of returning home.

While she had completed solo missions in the last few years she was always reminded how much better missions were in teams. It made the whole process easier and it was a peace of mind knowing someone else had your back in case of danger.

She was pleasantly surprised by how smoothly the mission was going. Her first two targets were easily dispatched and her travelling between the locations was also free of any conflicts. Enough so that she was in a good mood having recalculated that she should be able to finish the mission earlier than expected.

It _obviously_ couldn't last.

The first sign that the mission wouldn't be as easy to complete as she originally planned was when the third target was found to be in the presence of two other unknowns.

' _An easy fix.'_ Shizuka had reasoned with herself. She had been observing the other targets as well, so now she would observe this group with more caution as she was now outnumbered. She watched them for a while and planned on how to take them out separately to ensure she wouldn't have to fight all at once.

That's where the second issue came in. As soon as she had a rough plan on how to proceed she felt a very popular team of Genin enter her sensory range.

' _Of course, they are here.'_ Shizuka groaned as she split her focus between observing the three arguing targets and keeping track of her fellow Konoha shinobi who were heading towards a nearby town.

The next hitch in her plans was when a second group of foreign shinobi went after the Genin team and confronted them if the chakra flaring was anything to go by.

The final nail in the coffin was when her targets decided to move _towards_ the Genin team, and Shizuka obviously had to interfere before the Genin team was outnumbered even further than they already were.

In a burst of speed, Shizuka stabbed one of the shinobi in the back and tried to dispatch the second one immediately after only to be blocked by her original target.

"And who are you, pretty lady?" The green-eyed man purred as he deflected her blade and moved to sweep her legs from under her.

Shizuka ignored the taunt and jumped back dodging a flurry of punches from the woman she had failed to kill.

"No matter, we don't have time for you." The man smirked before the two of them disappeared from plain sight with some variation of the chameleon jutsu.

The Nara sighed and continued to make her way to the team of Genin who still seemed to be battling their attackers. As she approached the scene she took a moment to use her senses to give her an idea of the situation.

' _Five on Kakashi, two on Sasuke, two on Naruto and one on pinkie.'_ Settling her mind on the first order of business she flew through the required handsigns unleashing her jutsu as soon as she launched out of the trees and into the clearing.

" **Kuro Higanbana"** _(Black Spider Lily)_ Tendrils of shadows spread out to their fullest catching one of each of the boy's opponents, two of Kakashi's and the pink haired Genin's opponent as well.

Kakashi's eye locked onto her form as she landed in the middle of the clearing but no words were exchanged when he immediately moved to dispatch the captured opponents, their forms falling limp into pools of their blood when Shizuka released her control over the shadows.

"Perfect timing, Shizuka-chan." Kakashi commented lightly as she jumped into the fray, the pair tag teaming the three shinobi attacking them in an oddly well-coordinated series of attacks.

"We can't all suck at it, Kakashi-Senpai." Shizuka rolled her eyes as the man sent her an amused look before it hardened again when Shizuka's attention was drawn away.

Shizuka was keeping her senses spread to ensure the Genin were fairing alright. She was pleasantly surprised that the three recent graduates hadn't frozen for long after her unexpected entrance and had taken advantage of their opponent's distraction. Naruto and Sakura had teamed up, although they were playing defensive while only using taijutsu and Sasuke seemed to be pushing his opponent back with little struggle.

What caught her attention was the signature of her two original targets that had been waiting some distance away and were now moving towards them.

She lowered her voice to a whisper to ensure only Kakashi would hear her next words.

"I'm afraid two of my targets are about to get involved, we need to wrap this up _fast._ "

The man didn't answer out loud but the shift in his stance was enough for her to understand what was going to happen. In a flurry of movement and well-coordinated strikes, Shizuka and Kakashi took down two of their remaining three opponents just as Sasuke dispatched his last one, moving them to assist Naruto and Sakura.

Just when Shizuka started to think the situation was under control with Kakashi killing their last opponent she felt the ripples of what she knew to be an explosive tag heading towards the Genin who were distracted with the last enemy.

"Move!" Shizuka launched after them and grabbed Naruto while Kakashi grabbed the kunoichi and jumped to safety with Sasuke following at his side.

"Shizuka." Sasuke nodded coolly at her before they turned their attention to the two. "Who are they?"

"No idea, I sensed your team in the area and when I noticed you were outnumbered I took a detour." Shizuka murmured as they watched as the last man standing joined the two targets from Shizuka's original mission.

"The pretty lady is such a spoilsport. We were only here to test him." The green-eyed man from before pouted as his eyes scanned the Konoha shinobi from his high perch on a tree branch.

"Test who? Now listen here-" Naruto stepped forward only to be held back by Kakashi's arm.

"Now is not the time, Naruto."

"Don't worry, we will be back." The three rogues disappeared again drawing sharp gasps from two of the Genin behind them.

Shizuka sighed but closed her eyes and tracked the three of them until they reached the cave network her targets had been hiding in.

"Oi, lady! Answer me-Hmpf" Naruto glared as Sasuke covered his mouth with his hand.

"Shut up, dobe." Sasuke hissed as his eyes darted back to the older kunoichi who still had her eyes closed. "She's a sensor, she's tracking the position of the enemy."

The blond huffed and shoved the Uchiha off of him before turning back to the Nara to observe her face. All three Genin watched as the woman kept her eyes closed for a few minutes, ignoring their sensei who had settled against the closest tree with his eyes glued to his orange book.

After just a few minutes of silence only broken by Kakashi turning a page, Naruto was ready to burst only to be interrupted by Shizuka's sigh as she opened her eyes.

"They settled in a cave network Northwest of here still in my range. Only signatures all around are those three shinobi and a town full of civilians about half an hour run East from here."

Kakashi put the book away as Shizuka turned to him and nodded before turning to his Genin with a considering glance.

"We were supposed to find a few people from the village that have gone missing, possible kidnappings." Kakashi explained once he decided she probably had the clearance for it. "It's supposed to be a B-rank, but I suppose we can't just catch a break."

"Got it. I'll send a summon to the Hokage and inform that I've stayed after our missions clashed." Shizuka hummed as she adjusted the strap of her bag before turning to the Genin who had just watched on quietly.

"Team seven, meet Nara Shizuka, Shikamaru's older sister. Shizuka-chan, meet Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."

"Nice to meet you all." Shizuka tilted her head slightly as her eyes scanned over each one of them. "Looks like I'll be joining you guys for a few days."

"Nice to meet you, Shizuka-San." Sakura smiled pleasantly, nudging Naruto with a slap to his shoulder when the boy just stared continuously at the experienced kunoichi.

"Haven't we met before? You seem familiar."

"Hope you haven't decided to hide in an alley after a prank recently." Shizuka teased lightly watching as the boy's eyes widened in recognition.

"Oh! Shizuka-nee-chan, it's been so long!" Naruto grinned brightly up at her which she returned.

"Indeed! You were still in the academy at the time." Shizuka tilted her head and her eyes fell onto the third Genin of the troublesome team seven. "Sasuke-kun, good to see you again."

"Hn." Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement before turning to Kakashi who had watched the interactions curiously. "What did he mean by they were only here to test 'him'?"

"That's what Shizuka-chan and I will be looking into while you three handle the original mission. " Kakashi explained as he gestured in the direction of the civilian town. "Let's get going, we have work to do. We can rest up for the afternoon and get to work in the morning."

* * *

The following morning Kakashi had dispatched his students to ask the civilians around town about the missing people while he helped Shizuka with her mission.

"Who would have thought the little Chūnin I was training is already doing important solo missions." Kakashi teased as they left the inn they were staying in.

"Senpai…" Shizuka sighed in exasperation while the man pulled his little orange book. "Are you really going to read that now. This is an A-rank now and you're reading porn."

"Ah, but you know very well there aren't any shinobi around us and our targets are at least a thirty minute run from here." Kakashi replied, his eyes not straying from the pages in front of him. "Besides this isn't porn."

Shizuka gives him a deadpan stare but doesn't argue, knowing Kakashi was a master at diverting arguments.

"How's Tenzō?"

"Who?"

"Stop playing clueless, it doesn't suit you." Kakashi hummed but Shizuka didn't answer. "For an ANBU you suck at lying."

"Kami damn it!" Shizuka groaned completely missing Kakashi's smirk "Why does everyone tell me that? It's never been an issue on a mission."

"You lower your guard too much in allied company. I thought you'd have grown out of that by now."

"Tenzō is fine, we have a new rookie on the team, but the team has been working well together." Shizuka conceded, again having given up on denying anything. "Didn't know you were close to Tenzō-taichō."

"I used to be his taichō."

"Wait so you are the former leader of my team?" Shizuka sent him a surprised look as they launched into the trees before it morphed into a mischievous one. "Does that make you a grandfather in the whole scheme of hierarchies? You really are old."

For the first time since he had taken out his book he turned to glare at her before he seemingly decided against arguing with her and turned the page of his novel.

"How's Genma? If you see him when we get back tell him he needs to return my book."

"Book? What book?" She tilted her head in confusion but Kakashi didn't answer and instead only turned a page of the damn book. Upon realisation, she turned a scandalised look towards her partner. "Oh hell no."

"He asked for advice."

"FROM YOU!?" Shizuka all but shrieked, although her voice was still quiet as they were supposed to be sneaking up on their targets. "Of all people he went to you? _Gai_ would have given better advice."

"That hurts. You should respect your grandfather more." Kakashi mocked as he finally put the book away. "All teasing aside, what's the status on the targets?"

Shizuka huffed in amusement but shifted her focus to the cave network they were approaching, Kakashi a silent shadow to her right.

"In the cave, all three of them." Shizuka commented quietly. "Only other shinobi in the area are your Genin, who for some idiotic reason are heading this way."

"Of course they are." Kakashi sighed before he gestured for her to stop. "How far are they?"

"Far enough for us to reach the targets a good while before, but I have a feeling they would arrive before we finish eliminating all three enemies." Shizuka shrugged, "I can handle them on my own, not the first time I'd have to use distractions to break them apart."

"I can feel a but coming up."

"Why are your Genin following after you gave them orders to do their own thing? Either they found something and are coming to get you, which is worrisome because it should be civilian kidnapping civilians, not a thread of suspicion of shinobi involvement. Or they solved it already, also hard to believe, no offence. Or lastly -"

"It's related to these people you were already tracking which is somehow even worse."

Shizuka nodded as Kakashi caught on to her reasoning, she waited for a few moments as Kakashi considered their options before she spoke up with her own thoughts.

"They said they were testing 'him', one of your team, on a hunch I'd say Sasuke. Therefore you should make sure they are safe. I can deal with the three of them." Shizuka commented bringing Kakashi's attention back to her. "I know it isn't ideal, but I had already planned to take down three enemies on my own. I'll have a summon find you if anything happens."

Kakashi watched her carefully but she knew her idea made sense. He nodded and turned to go back to his team.

"Wait! **Kuchiyose no Jutsu.** " _(Summoning Jutsu)_ With a puff of smoke Kei, Shizuka's main summon, appeared. "Hi, Kei this is Kakashi-senpai, I need you to memorise his smell and signature to track him down later."

"Hai, Shizuka-chan." The racoon scurried forward and sniffed at Kakashi's pant leg. "Nice to meet you, Kakashi-San."

"You're a sensor." Kakashi hummed in interest as the summon walked around him a few times.

"Hai, Shizuka-chan helped us perfect it." Kei nodded and walked back to Shizuka. "What now?"

"I'm about to confront some enemy ninja, once the fight is over, or if I signal for you to go, I need to you find Kakashi. He'll be close by and still in your range." Shizuka explained to the summon before looking back up to the Jōnin and nodding in the direction of his team. "I'll see you later, senpai."

Kakashi nodded and jumped away leaving the Nara alone with her dark grey racoon companion.

"I'll be going inside the cave, stick to the rocks and stay out of the fight, make sure you can see me." Shizuka whispered to her summon as they launched into a run towards the caves.

Shizuka melted into the shadows of the cave until she reached an open area inside that had been partially flooded. She felt Kei break away from her shadow and slink into a little crevice, her dark grey fur a great help to camouflage against the stone.

She mentally went through her options of attack. Ninjutsu was out because electrified water wasn't a good idea, wind was too destructive for the inside of a cave and water wasn't a good element for her unless someone used fire.

From watching the trio she concluded that only one person was in a position she could actually strike and kill in a single move and so her initial attack was decided.

With a swift strike of her wind enhanced tantō the head of a tall man went tumbling to the ground, her other two opponents, the man and the woman she had originally failed to kill jumped back too quickly to get caught in her shadows.

"Pretty face is back! Now, where are those brats?" The man with green eyes grinned, his eyes shining with a malicious glee that just made Shizuka scowl.

The other woman had dark blue hair and brown eyes and she was scowling right back at Shizuka. The woman circled around forcing Shizuka between the two of them.

She didn't have long to consider what their plan was before they struck.

Shizuka would loathe to admit it but the two of them were _fast_. Not as fast as some shinobi she'd seen but fast enough to annoy her because she wouldn't have the upper hand in that area so easily.

The fight that ensued was brutal. Shizuka managed to avoid most of the heavy blows to any vital point but she could feel her limbs get battered with grazing hits, bruises and cuts littering her body. On the other hand, her opponents also were covered in bruises and cuts, most of which were deeper than the superficial ones on her skin. At the cost of that small victory, her opponents were pissed, specifically the green-eyed man.

' _Something is wrong with his chakra, it's darkening.'_ Shizuka grunted as she defended a kick with her right arm while her left hand was keeping the woman's katana away from her stomach. _'They are pushing me out into the open.'_

Their fight had moved from the large interior chamber of the cave to an outside area surrounded by the mountain they had been under.

By the time she was in the middle of the open space thing really went downhill. The man's chakra suddenly changed, it went from flowing to pulsing with a corrupted energy.

That was when Shizuka gave Kei the signal, a quick flicker of her chakra and the racoon was flying back out the cave towards wherever Kakashi and the Genin were.

She couldn't track her summon for much further as the two shinobi she had been fighting suddenly took everything up a notch. Identifying the woman as the weaker opponent as she lacked the corrupted chakra Shizuka came up with a plan.

And then she got knocked into a wall.

Wincing she rolled on the floor before pushing back to her feet just barely dodging the follow-up punch from the man. She spared the spiderweb-like cracks on the stone where she had impacted a glance before she had to block another hit, this time grasping the arm and trying to stab him with a kunai as her now both her tantōs had fallen somewhere during the confrontation.

Shizuka was kept on the defensive for what felt like an eternity, dodging everything she could but even so she still got a kunai to the calf and a couple of punches to her torso.

Her only advantage came when the woman left her side open after landing a punch to Shizuka's knee which the Nara took in order took to be able to stab her kunai into the woman's chest.

The blue haired woman let out a gasp as her lungs filled with blood and Shizuka stumbled backwards, her right knee collapsing under her weight.

The last enemy standing used her stumble to his advantage and charge towards her but instead of his punch landing on her body, it landed on the ground as she connected her shadow to the entrance of the cave and moved there.

"Your timing can still get better, senpai." Shizuka coughed as she pushed herself to her feet. "Not that I'm not glad you're here, but why are you here?"

"These people are the ones kidnapping civilians." Kakashi explained as he stared at their enemy who had paused in his relentless attack to observe the new arrival. "We found people trapped in these odd seals down one of the side paths, the Genin were helping the people out."

"Seals? Must have been why I didn't sense them at first." Shizuka sighed as she shifted her stance. "Let's wrap this up."

Flying through handseals she connected her shadow to Kakashi's who glanced momentarily at her but otherwise didn't react to the momentary loss of control of his movement.

"Go, I'll trap you kill. We only have one shot or he'll see it coming next time." Shizuka whispered before pulling out a handful of senbon.

With no time wasted Kakashi and the man launched at each other, but the man already knew she was a Nara because he kept avoiding direct contact with Kakashi, which she would need to capture him.

What the man didn't expect is the second tendril of shadow, trapping him from behind. One moment the man froze and glanced downwards just moving his eyes to see his shadow caught and the next he was dead.

Just as the man fell to the ground Sasuke arrived through the entrance to the cave his eyes scanning over the area pausing briefly at his sensei, the two dead shinobi and the exhausted kunoichi.

"Civilians have been released, the others have led them out of the cave." The Uchiha walked forward until he was standing next to Kakashi as he prepared to seal the body into a scroll while Shizuka sealed the blue-haired woman's body. "Did you find out who he was testing?"

"They didn't-" Shizuka stood and turned to observe the boy as she answered but a flicker of chakra interrupted her. "Detonating tag, move!"

Kakashi reacted quickly and grabbed the Uchiha before flickering out of range and to Shizuka's side.

"Someone didn't want us to look at that body." Shizuka commented dryly as she pocketed the scroll she had in hand. "There is one more inside I need to seal before we go."

"Will you travel back with us or do you need to return immediately?" Kakashi questioned as he took a moment to observe the younger kunoichi's condition.

"I'll travel with you, but we should really get a move on." Shizuka commented lightly as she sped up her pace, her limp becoming a waddle.

"Shizuka…" Kakashi warned as he followed her down the twists and turns of the cave.

"The walls are pulsing with chakra. It's been slowly building up but I didn't notice, I think I have a concussion."

"Why is it building up?" Sasuke was the one to ask just as they reached the main chamber,

"Probably to blow it up." Shizuka commented dryly as they heard cracking sounds and pieces of stone falling from the ceiling.

With a flicker she knelt down to the body of the first person she took down and sealed him quickly into a premade seal.

As the pieces of rock started falling more quickly, Kakashi appeared at her side and helped her up with a hand at her elbow.

"We need to get out. Shizuka you guide."

Shizuka nodded and started a run towards the exit, ignoring the pain in her leg and other injuries as they dodged around boulders. Sasuke was just behind her with Kakashi at his side, the Jōnin being the perfect distance to help either of them should they stumble.

It didn't take them long to reach the outside but they all let out a breath once they did.

"So let's not do that again." Shizuka huffed as she collapsed against a tree outside.

"We'll coordinate to take missions far from each other." Kakashi rolled his eyes as Shizuka murmurs her agreement. "Alright, if everyone is accounted for, we should move back to the town."

"Hai!." Naruto and Sakura chorused while Sasuke just grunted his response bringing an amused smile to Shizuka's lips as she watched the Genin shepherd the civilians towards the town while Kakashi pulled out his book and matched his pace to hers.

' _An interesting generation indeed.'_ Shizuka laughed internally as she observed Sakura make polite conversation with some civilians while Naruto started off on an exaggerated retelling of his Land of the Waves mission and Sasuke brooded at the front of the group.

"You know, you still owe them that training session."

"You just want to pass on your work to me for a day." Shizuka grumbled at the man who looked up to give her an eye smile.

"I was thinking more like a month."

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments!**

 **Arkytior's Song**

AAAAHHHHH! I'm so happy you liked it!

Chūnin exam training will be fun! All the rookie teams and Team Gai! Shizuka will finally meet Gai!

 **KooraX**

Hello again! Thanks for the 100th review!

Sure! I'll start adding more fluff to their conversations. On Genma's POV chapter, that actually is in the plans already, it will be during the break of Naruto and Shippuden.

They are friends. He knows she will keep whatever information to herself because she wants to help the village and knows that declaring him her informant is a terrible idea. So he respects her and she respects him.

 **Lexxxloubell**

Thank you for the review! Trouble just seems to find her XD I'm glad you liked it! More action coming up with the next few chapters and the Chūnin exams coming up.

 **Leannn**

Hahaha don't worry! Tiny will return soon :D Yeah! We will see more jealous Genma again and maybe some jealous Shizuka though she's more of the type to get annoyed and not necessarily jealous. One of the scenes I have written for the next chapter is pouty Shika because of a similar reason.

Hahahahah you like the Nidaime then? He's one of my favourites as well.

 **Whitney1995**

Heyy! Yeah Daichi hasn't seen them together yet, so that will be fun :D And yeah overprotective family members might do some plotting xD And Shikamaru and Genma will have a shogi match with quite a few comments thrown in, but again, in a later chapter :D

 **Guest #1**

Thank you! Hahahah I'll definitely be dropping some innuendos soon, but it's still the start of their relationship so neither are at that place just yet.

There will be an entire chapter on Genma pov that will span their entire relationship, from the first meeting to how they started dating, but it'll Yup! They will have a partnership going on, though Jiraiya will definitely dump the paperwork on her xD

 **Guest #2**

You will be able to see the office scene in a later chapter :D The Daichi scene will be soon as well and we'll be able to see it in full! Masa and Kaito will also appear more during the Chūnin exams arc.

Thank you for the comment!

 **Thanks for the comments!**

 **xx**


	35. The Next One

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **I still have one exam left, which means the next update will also be in two weeks, but after that, I'm on track to return with the weekly updates.**

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 **Thanks! And I hope you enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 35 - The Next One**

From the moment she stepped back into the village with team seven she knew she would have her schedule completely full of meetings and tasks to be completed.

Firstly, she had returned two days late as travel with the Genin while injured wasn't as fast as it would have been if she was alone and in top condition.

While her family was informed of her delay it seemed that no one extended the courtesy to inform her boyfriend, who showed up at the hospital while she was being checked out.

Shizuka's eyes drifted from watching Asami checking over her wounds to the door as she sensed Genma's annoyance through his signature out in the hallway.

"Want to let him in?" Asami asked as she worked on healing her knee, Shizuka could see the amused smile tugging at her lips.

"Come in, Gen." Shizuka rolled her eyes as her boyfriend opened the door and took two long strides to reach her side. "I'm sorry no one told you I was going to be late."

"It wasn't the best thing to hear it from Izumo that you had gone straight to the hospital instead of debriefing."

"The debriefing is going to be a long meeting with different people and I have a concussion so I wouldn't be of much use." Shizuka winced and leaned her head on his shoulder as he tugged her closer to him.

"How's the nausea?"

"Distract me." Shizuka answered quietly basking in the warmth of his arms.

"Gai was raving about the chakra diversion thing or whatever you taught him, he told me the improvement is already noticeable." Genma replied quietly as he observed Asami move her hands up and down Shizuka's leg. "Your brother also came to talk to me, he knew a surprising amount of things about me that I'm pretty sure he shouldn't know."

"You can blame my team for that. They probably did some spying when we first started going out and my brother is well aware of that."

"And how he figured out I was ANBU?"

"Aw, he's getting better at observation and deduction."

"Shizuka..."

"Where did the nickname go?" Shizuka pulled back from the hug and that's when he noticed her hazy eyes.

' _Pain killers.'_ Asami mouthed when their eyes met over Shizuka's head. The woman then gave Shizuka's form a pointed stare before sending him a questioning look while her hands glowed green.

"Sorry, Doe." Genma gave her a nod and then pulled the Nara closer who huffed as she tucked her head under his chin while Asami moved towards her back, one hand on her lower back and the other at the base of her neck.

"That's annoying." Shizuka mumbled, her eyes squeezing shut as the healing chakra entered her system again. "I won't have to wear a brace will I?"

"You would probably take it off the moment you got home." Asami snorted as Shizuka just hummed in agreement.

As Asami continued with her job and Genma whispered whatever she had missed in the village almost made Shizuka fall asleep, but the sound of the woman opening the door woke the Nara up.

"You guys are cute and all, but your father is heading this way." The blonde sent a wink and a smile towards the couple before she left the room and made her way down the hallway, her cheery voice as it moved further away from the room. "Shikaku-Sama, everything is good, lots of rest for the next week."

Shizuka missed her father's reply as she was too busy stopping Genma from stepping away from her.

"Tō-San, where is the meeting going to be?" Shizuka sent her father a grin as she stood from the exam bed she had been sitting in, Genma's arm immediately finding her waist to make sure she didn't fall.

"Let's go to Inoichi's office, you can crash on his couch for an hour before the meeting. He and I have a meeting with the Hokage before that." Shikaku sighed but held the door open as the couple walked out slowly. "Genma, why don't you go get her something to eat? I'll leave a message with the receptionist to let you go straight up."

"Tō-San…" Shizuka whines, twisting around to look over her shoulder to give her father a pointed stare before it softened into a pout. "Remember the little restaurant where they served dumplings the civilian district? The place I first had dumplings."

"I remember." Shikaku sighed and gave her a soft smile before patting Genma on the back. "She gets clumsy while on painkillers. I'm surprised she hasn't stumbled yet."

"Got it." Genma gave him a firm nod and tightened his hold on Shizuka as they watched the Jōnin Commander slouch before making his way to the civilian district. "Can anyone resist that look?"

"Cat-Taichō always takes a deep breath and his chakra always flickers as if he wants to hit me and I'm pretty sure Kakashi would resist it too." Shizuka hummed as she leaned more fully into his side. "Oh, Asami-San completely ignores it though Kouta-Sensei falls for it instead."

"I'll have to ask them for the secret." Genma huffed out a laugh as Shizuka tripped over her own feet, earning himself a glare from her which was rendered useless considering the painkillers she had taken.

"Don't worry, Kakashi-San let me read his book. I'm sure there are other ways I can convince you." Shizuka cackled as Genma turned red and stumbled over his own feet, his senbon nearly falling out of his mouth. "Why would you go to him for advice anyway?"

"Would you rather I go to Gai? Or Raidō?" Genma glanced down at her with raised eyebrows just in time to see her shiver in realisation to his options.

"Ask Hayate-kun! Yūgao always tells the sweetest stories. Even Naoki-kun! He's always so sweet on his dates."

Genma pouted as Shizuka mentioned Naoki, still not over the fact that the man had slept on the same bed as Shizuka before even he, her boyfriend, had.

"Do you girls gossip about us?"

"Of course, Anko and Yūgao give the _best_ advice." Shizuka grinned as she knocked on the door to Inoichi's office.

"Come in!" The man's voice sounded from inside allowing the couple to enter the office to see him grabbing a few scrolls and putting them in his pockets. "Shizuka-chan, Genma, what brings you here?"

"I have a concussion, broken ribs and injured leg. I'm supposed to rest before our meeting so I need a couch."

"All yours." Inoichi watched as Genma helped her settle on the couch and threw one of the blankets he kept in a drawer over, watching as Genma covered her as she closed her eyes. "Painkillers?"

"Very strong." Genma replied quietly. "Shikaku-San was getting her food."

"You'll be staying then?"

"Hai."

"Good." Inoichi gave the girl another glance only to hear her soft snores. "Have a good day."

"Thank you. Good luck with your meeting."

Inoichi and Genma exchanged nods before the Yamanaka left the office closing the door softly behind him while Genma moved to sit so that Shizuka's head was in his lap and he could run his fingers through her hair. Moments later he too fell into a light doze.

Shizuka was woken up by Inoichi returning to the room to call her for their meeting about her work during the last few weeks and what the next steps would be.

She rolled her shoulders lightly as Genma folded up the blanket and returned it to the head of the Intelligence division who put it back into a drawer.

"You staying home tonight?" Genma asked as they moved out the door with Inoichi shutting it behind him.

"Yeah, but you should go out. Isn't it a game night tonight?"

"If you're sure? We can go for lunch tomorrow before my afternoon guard shift."

"Sounds great." Shizuka smiled up at him and gave him a kiss before she turned to her uncle. "Are they in the mind map room?"

"Hai. Have a good evening, Genma-kun." Inoichi waved as he and Shizuka walked in the direction of her office. "Shikaku didn't want to wake you so he has the dumplings with him."

"Ah, perfect, I'm starving." Shizuka grinned as she opened the door giving a swift bow to the Hokage and a nod in greeting to Ibiki, her father and the ANBU commander she could sense in the room. "Hokage-sama, Tō-San, Ibiki-San, Jackal-San."

"Shizuka-San, I hope all is well?" The Hokage sent a look at the leg she seemed to be favouring.

"Nothing a couple of days of rest won't solve." She offered a slight shrug before moving to the board and unsealing the notes she had taken on the return journey. "I did finish my report already, so at least my delay didn't actually set anything back."

She passed her notes to the people around, barely flinching when the ANBU commander seemed to materialise next to her father so that he could see the information himself.

"You all know that the first two targets were eliminated without much issue. The first was a trainee medic ninja from Suna and the other a rogue poison expert from Kiri." Shizuka gestured to the pictures of her targets on the mind map. "Neither too impressive outside of their area of expertise and the connection was from them to Orochimaru."

"Did you get any proof or information on that arrangement?" Inoichi asked as he looked over the scroll with the sealed bodies.

"Yeah, in the scroll with Ibiki-San there should be some sealed documents I found with them. "Not much but some notes on research they were doing which link them quite closely to events we suspect Orochimaru was related to."

The young Nara turned to the map plucking at one of the strings and following it to a patch of notes on a different wall, the other occupants of the room turned slowly so that they could see what she was reading.

"The chemical compositions of the research were the same and the dates of the experiments match with the drug case at the border with Grass." Shizuka then looked around the wall until she found another patch of notes. "The Suna medic threw me off, it was hard to get a direct link but the guy had been under suspicion for a while."

"And how did you get this information?" The ANBU commander asked, his tone monotonic to most, but having spoken to the man before and sensing the depth his chakra as she could, the flicker of annoyance didn't go unnoticed.

"The Spectrum is remarkably efficient. And I snuck into the Suna records." Shizuka raised her hand as she felt them starting to make empty protests. "Yes, they are our allies, but we needed the info and they wouldn't give it up. Besides, it wasn't like it was hard."

She wavered her shadow slightly and compressed her chakra so that it disappeared from their range, earning herself a sigh from her father, a head shake from her uncle and the ANBU commander's chakra twitched again.

"Interesting technique." The Hokage raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I suppose you calculated the risk of doing so?"

"I was only in the archives for a minute or two at max. They really need to improve their security." Shizuka wrinkled her nose and ignored her father's stare again. "In any case, I left my Spectrum contact with orders to let me know if any suspicion came up and it's been quiet, otherwise I had backups."

"Like?" Ibiki finally looked up from the documents he had in his hand, not looking the faintest surprised she had infiltrates the other village but instead having the faintest trace of amusement on his expression.

"Orochimaru has been stealing secret jutsus from the villages." Shizuka shrugged and her eyes paused at the Hokage and ANBU commander. "The whole issue at the last academy graduation, Mizuki wouldn't have been able to figure out half of those jutsus."

"So you would frame Orochimaru who is already a missing-nin and likely already stole from them." The Hokage observed her steadily before nodding and gesturing for her to continue.

"From previous reports, it is known that he was doing human experiments and in the last target I can safely say he has continued to do so." Shizuka sighed but continued on before they could ask questions. "The last target had a seal on him, his chakra was odd, corrupted somehow."

"It's what gave you trouble in the fight." Jackal concluded as his eyes trailed from her head to her leg. "What else did you find?"

"He's interested in someone from team seven. My guess is Sasuke." Shizuka glanced back at the papers on her wall before she continued without looking back. "If he's interested in learning new jutsu I'd guess the Sharingan would come in handy. Not to mention his _goal…"_

"His goal?" Inoichi questioned as Shizuka trailed off, her eyes focusing on a small scrawled not that seemed to be encoded.

"Immortality, at least that's what Anko told me and what I've gathered from all this." Shizuka gestured vaguely at the room. "The missing civilians' case that Kakashi's team seven was investigating was being used for experiments. I don't think you'll get much from the corpses, one had a detonating seal in case of death."

"And the hideout blew up." The Hokage asked as he shuffled closer to the papers on the wall, his fingers flipping some pagers up to reveal notes and images of the cases and people involved. "What do you think, Shikaku?"

"I'd say she's right on who they were supposed to be testing, but that brings on an issue…" Shikaku glanced at Shizuka who had moved towards the table to start eating the food he had brought as her stomach started growling. "How did they know which team was being sent. It could be a coincidence but its too specific for that to be true."

"Inside information." Shizuka nodded between bites of her food, offering the adults a sheepish smile as stepped to their side with the box of food in hand. "Sorry, it would have been distracting."

None answered verbally but she could tell they were amused, Ibiki and Jackal more leaning more towards exasperation. When none of them made a comment, Shizuka moved forward and pointed to a piece of paper next to the one the Hokage had just been inspecting.

"The blackout of information from Otogakure seems rather suspicious now, I'd say keep some extra people on them during the exams. I know it's in ten days, but I'd recommend having another look at guard postings."

"Jackal, Shikaku, I trust you two can coordinate this." The Hokage sent her an amused smile before turning to the two commanders. "Inoichi and Ibiki you two will be receiving a large amount of data, have you finalised your team?"

"Hai. All members have been notified and have been removed from other regular duties for the duration of the exams." Inoichi nodded to the Kage before turning to Shizuka. "Shizuka-chan, I'd recommend making a background report for your ANBU squad as they will be working closer to the situation because of your involvement."

"Already started. I'll also send a message to have the Spectrum on alert." Shizuka hummed before her eyes widened when Ibiki glared at her. "You honestly can't be surprised the Spectrum have people in the village."

"How many?"

"Twenty contacts, including myself, though if it helps that's not nearly as many as Suna, Iwa and Grass."

"A large group like that is hard to control." The Hokage pointed out. "Especially when you don't actually control them."

"Their ability to go unseen and thus uncontrollable is what makes them so effective." Shizuka tilted her head as she watched the group in front of her. "Every business arrangement has risks, this is no different. Not only that, they aren't my only source of information, I'll keep some summons around for the exams too. Besides, the Spectrum are civilians and I can track them anywhere in the village myself, not that they know that."

"And you trust these other sources of yours?" Ibiki questioned as his eyes trailed to the encoded notes on the wall, his glare disappearing even if he still wasn't happy with the knowledge that there were spies inside the village.

"With my life."

* * *

Three days later was the first time Shizuka had time for a reasonably long nap in the early afternoon since before her mission with team seven and would be the last one for the foreseeable future.

Nonetheless, she enjoyed the two hours she had free by settling under her favourite tree in her backyard with the clouds lazily drifting by above her before duty called once again.

"Shizuka, ready to go?" Her father's voice sounded from the porch. "The group from Suna should be arriving soon."

"Hai, let's go." Brushing off the grass from her clothes she walked up to her father. "I don't think I'll ever be used to wearing the standard outfit."

"Easier to see you wear that than ANBU outfit, your mother still does a double-take whenever she has to wash them."

"Which is why I've taken to doing the heavier washing at headquarters." Shizuka sighed and stretched her arms above her head, sighing contently when her shoulders popped, as they moved around the outside of the house to leave the compound.

"You remember the plan?"

"Hai, I'm supposed to take the teams to their accommodation while also keeping an eye on them."

"Just take care, I know politics isn't your favourite thing, but the next month is all about politics."

"Yeah, yeah." Shizuka hummed as she stretched her senses and located the Hokage already at the gate. "Huh, Jackal-San is on duty. You don't see that often."

"Keep ANBU talk to a minimum, and make sure the ones that follow you can't be sensed. If you can't do it no one else will."

"You know, I've just been waiting for the moment Ibiki or Jackal asks me to train some members to conceal themselves better. I sometimes wonder how some of them made it into the ranks."

Shikaku snorted but didn't comment as they continued their walk through the village as fast as they could go without progressing into a run. Before she knew it they found themselves at the main gate. Looking around they noticed a few shinobi lounging around to see the foreigners arrive.

"Hokage-sama." The two Nara's bowed slightly as they approached their leader and his two ANBU guards. Shizuka nodded slightly at Horse and Cat before her eyes landed on the guards in the trees and locating the commander after applying a bit more effort.

"They have entered my range. They should be here in a few minutes." Shizuka commented lightly as her eyes turned to stare at the trees beyond the gates, her expression slipping into a slight frown as a thought drifted into her mind. _'One of them has an absurd amount of chakra.'_

She glanced at her father from the corner of her eye but he didn't look back, his slouch was gone and he stood like the proud commander he was, to Shizuka the image clashed a fair bit with the image of she had of him and their afternoon naps from when she was a child or the man that shrunk when scolded by his wife.

Soon enough the group of Suna shinobi arrived. Due to their allied status, there were ten teams of Genin, and their ten accompanying Jōnin. Suna was the village with the second highest number of teams, second only to Konoha and had three teams more than the third village with most entrants, Amegakure.

"Welcome to Konohagakure." The Hokage greeted them, his usual pipe nowhere in sight and his hands clasped behind his back. "I hope your journey was pleasant."

"Aye, thank you." A tall man inclined his head slightly in respect, half of his face covered by a white cloth that was wrapped around his head and two red markings on his cheek. "It is an honour to have the Hokage receive us."

The Hokage nodded his head and gestured for the Chūnin on duty to start the process of logging them into the village. Shizuka easily spotted Reiji, Kotetsu and Izumo in the team of five, the other two being Chūnin she had never met. She observed them go through the boring process, missing the fact that her father moved to talk with the Hokage and the Jōnin that had already been checked in.

' _Top tier Chūnin helping out, visible ANBU, Jōnin Commander, we're pulling out all the stops... Let the politics begin.'_ Shizuka sighed and refocused on the conversation happening between her father and the others.

"We will meet tomorrow to discuss any questions you have in regards to the exam. Nara Shizuka will escort you to the hotel you will be staying." The Hokage nodded to the two Nara's before nodding to their guests and leaving, his ANBU trailing silently behind.

"Please, follow me. I'm sure you would enjoy some rest and a warm meal." Shizuka placed a smile on her face and gestured vaguely down one of the streets parallel to the main road.

She sent her father a small smile before she started down the road, keeping a slow pace as the foreigners followed. Her father sent her a nod before bidding the visitors goodbye and making his way to the Hokage tower.

The route she was taking didn't pass any important buildings and was a straight line through the village to a three-storey hotel that had been completely rented out for the duration of the exams.

"The Jōnin commander and clan head's daughter, I wonder why Konoha's elite is playing babysitter." The Jōnin that had spoken to the Hokage matched his pace to stay a single step behind her and to her right side, making sure to stay in her line of sight.

"The other options were too troublesome." Shizuka responded, a slight slouch in place and the half-lidded uninterested gaze locked ahead. She inwardly cheered as the ones who heard her response picked out the indirect insult. "Alright, here we are. This entire hotel is yours to stay, food will be cooked here, but feel free to try some of the local cuisines."

"On the day of the exam, myself or one of my colleagues will escort you to the location. Until then, feel free to explore, I assume you've been briefed on our laws." She let her tone sound unenthusiastic as if she was just going over a list of things, which she technically was. The whole point if this was to make them seem like they weren't suspicious of anything and thus that everything was just the normal protocol. "Good, each squad gets a room for three, each Jōnin gets an individual room. Are there any questions?"

"Do we require an escort?" A boy with purple markings and jumpsuit that looked to have cat ears on top of the hood called out.

"No, if you need directions, ask any passing shinobi, stay out of closed off areas and there shouldn't be much of an issue."

"Where will the Jōnin be for the duration of the exams?" The Jōnin with the wrapped head asked. "I'm assuming we won't have to stay indoors?"

"A lounge room for the team leaders has been organised in the office across from the academy, you will find the Jōnin from all competing villages there. I will be here tomorrow morning to escort the team leaders to the meeting with the Hokage about the exams."

"That will be all." The same Jōnin nodded at her briefly before waving her off. Shizuka held back her scowl but instead smirked when Baki's signature pushed against hers momentarily.

' _Oh, a sensor! Interesting.'_ Shizuka allowed her chakra to be investigated momentarily while keeping it as neutral as possible and judging by the way his chakra flickered in annoyance, she was sure she succeeded. _'Neutral chakra makes me seem much less threatening and also won't allow him to track me easily. No one else has tried, which means he's likely the only one.'_

"Until tomorrow then." Shizuka nodded and spun on her heel, her braid flicking over her shoulder as she moved down the street, compressing her chakra as she went until she was satisfied the Jōnin couldn't track her.

"Come out of the trees, Grizzly, Ape." Shizuka waited a few moments before the two men appeared in front of her with their masks on. "You're getting better at hiding; I just know your signatures too well."

"We'll find a way." Grizzly teased before he tossed her a pack. "We've got your uniform. How much did you get from them?"

"Not much. They are suspicious, but not that we have any idea about their plan, but about the freedom we'll be allowing them." Shizuka shrugged as she moved behind a tree to swap into her ANBU uniform. "The head sensei, Baki, I believe, is a sensor. Will be a pain to get a sense of his chakra without him knowing."

"And the others?" She heard Ape ask as she pulled the black turtleneck shirt over her head. "Anyone that you already have done?"

"The redhead boy, his is memorable, I don't think he can suppress that so he's easy." Shizuka sighed, kneeling on the ground to fasten her black boots and seal her regular uniform away. "That's it, I pulled back once I noticed the sensor."

"Got it. Ape and I have already made the split on watches, we'll fill you in as you start on the dull job of cataloguing them." Grizzly told her as she walked back to them, her mask already in place.

"Hai, thanks." Shizuka reached under her mask to rub at her eyes, her tone unenthusiastic. "This will be such a pain."

"At least you are doing something. We have to stand there and wait to see if anyone will take a walk." Ape grumbled as they made their way to the vacated apartment across the street from the hotel.

Inside the apartment, Shizuka identified Meerkat, another infiltration specialist in ANBU and in Genma's squad. With a nod to him, she settled herself on the window seat to the side of the building, where she couldn't be seen from the hotel.

The skill required to both compress your chakra and use it to sense the area around you is something Shizuka never really cared for. Sensors with the ability to identify others weren't that common, although most high-level Jōnin have some sensory ability or the other. The fact that sensors weren't many meant that Shizuka rarely had to conceal her presence and get the feel for anyone in the area.

Being sensitive to chakra, Shizuka never enjoyed compressing or changing the general flow of her own chakra as it made her feel heavier and slower, which isn't ideal for a shinobi that relies on speed. Whenever she had to do both her headache would build up much faster and thus, she tended to avoid spreading to her full range so that she wouldn't be overwhelmed.

That didn't mean she wasn't good at it. Aoba had been baffled the first time they successfully tried it and he couldn't tell that she was focusing on him directly even if he had told her to do it. He had even asked Tonbo, who has a better affinity as a sensor, to try to find her and even he had failed. While Shizuka was happy with the result, it had taken her days to properly compress her chakra and sense others around her at the same time. She was also unhappy about the pounding headache it caused her as well as the hospital visit after she passed out from the strain.

As soon as she made herself comfortable, Ape sat by her side and went through the basic split of which colleague would be responsible for each team. The newest members had the Genin teams, with the exception of the children of the Kazekage that got Yūgao and another ANBU sensor from her team. Shizuka was surprised to hear Hayate would be involved in this mission and that he was on Baki's watch along with Genma.

Once he was done with a basic run through of assignments, Ape moved to the window to give Shizuka space to concentrate. She stayed in her position for a full two hours before a disturbance caused all four shinobi to go on high alert.

"Killing Intent? Which Jōnin is it?" Grizzly appeared by her side, his eyes shifting from the window to the door, almost expecting someone to attack them. "Chipmunk!"

Snapping out of her surprised daze to finally meet Raidō's eyes with her own.

"Not a Jōnin… The redhead boy." Shizuka stood and moved to the window facing the hotel, watching as shinobi nearby zoned into the building housing the source. "Wait… They are moving inside."

"A Genin is producing this?!" Ape gaped as he turned to stare at her incredulously.

"Hai, he's been talked down by the lead Jōnin." Shizuka sighed and rubbed at her temple. "Spread word to stand down. We're still-"

Shizuka cut herself off with a sharp gasp as two very strong pulses of chakra pushed against hers, forcibly disrupting her concentration.

"Chipmunk?" Meerkat's deep voice was close to her but sounded muffled.

"Come on, Chip, focus on me." The sound of Grizzly kneeling next to her is what caused her to realise she had fallen to her knees. "You alright? What happened just now?"

"They know there's a sensor here." Shizuka squeezed her eyes shut before accepting Grizzly's help to stand. "I'm going to do damage control, go on spread the word to the others."

Raidō observed her for a few moments and she gave him a reassuring smile before pulling the mask she had attached to her hip when they entered the apartment back onto her face.

"Go, I'll go over there to check it out."

Shizuka didn't wait for him to answer and launched herself out the side window she had been sitting at and body flickering to the hotel, knocking softly on the wood and waiting for someone to open up.

"What do you want?" A Jōnin with mossy green hair opened the door with a scowl on his face.

"There was a disturbance in this area as I was doing my round, I needed to make sure everything was in order."

"It's fine. Leave." The man went to close the door but Shizuka stopped the door with her hand.

"I must insist, who is the lead Jōnin here?"

"I am." Baki's voice sounded as he approached, the green haired man opened the door wider and moved to allow the other Jōnin to stand at the door, his sense pushing against hers in a warning. "It was just a minor disagreement between colleagues, they have been reprimanded and the event will not happen again."

"See to it that it doesn't, it's caused a disturbance." A slight shift of where she stood revealed, Grizzly's form on the roof as he returned from warning a group of shinobi. "I'll make sure to warn the next patrol of the incident, one more and we'll have to contact the one responsible for your group, do you know who that is?"

"Nara Shizuka."

"Ah, then I'll doubly reinforce that warning. The Nara get cranky when woken too soon." Chipmunk let some dark humour seep into her tone. "Enjoy your stay, Jōnin-San."

With a quick handsign, Shizuka appeared on the roof next to Raidō, and the two moved around down the street to the same point they had met up before compressing their chakra and moving to the street level to return to the apartment they had been watching from.

"How's the head?" Raidō asked as they moved down the side streets. "And what's the status in there?"

"Pounding, but I should be able to hold off until the morning. I've got all the Jōnin down and the stronger Genin, still working on the last few." Shizuka mumbled as they turned into the alley behind the apartment block they were in and jumping up the flight of stairs to their floor. "Baki knows Chipmunk is a sensor, but not my identity as he had to re-analyse my chakra even though he tried when I first met him."

"What's up with the redhead, then?"

"Nothing good. His chakra is raw and animalistic, I've only sensed something similar once before… A long time ago." Shizuka gave him a look to which he sucked in a breath and nodded, having caught her meaning. "He probably has some sensory ability too, or maybe his _guest_ does. In any case, whoever has him needs to be on alert, I have a feeling he's not very stable."

Raidō grimaced and nodded ushering her to her seat and watched her closely as she drank the water and the medicine to ease her headache that Ape had likely set aside for her.

Once the man was satisfied that she would be able to focus properly he moved to the seat facing the hotel and watching the surrounding streets. She watched the three men for a moment before returning to her task.

The morning could not come fast enough and as soon as her watch ended, she stood from her position and stretched out her muscles, releasing the tension from having stayed in one position for too long.

"Heading out for my meeting, I'll go straight over to them after." Shizuka called out before putting on her mask and jumping out the window, running full speed towards the Hokage's office.

The moment she stepped inside, the Hokage's assistant knocked on the door and gestured for her to enter.

Walking into the room she gave the people present a bow in respect before the Hokage gestured for her to remove her mask.

"I've successfully memorised the signatures, the next step is matching them to names and faces, although a few are already done." Straightening up she moved towards the desk and took the file the Sandaime offered with a thankful smile.

"Biggest threats in no particular order, Baki, Kagoro and Kosuke. Three above-average Jōnin which are most likely central to controlling the plans from the inside. Baki is a sensor, but the others were no more proficient in the area than any of their respective watchmen." The young Nara pulled out the sheets with the three Jōnin and passed them to Ibiki who was standing the closest to her.

"And the KI incident?" Her father questioned, but she was focused on observing the Kage who was leaning back with his arms crossed and his pipe releasing slowly drifting smoke.

"Sabaku no Gaara, the Kazekage's youngest son." Shizuka pulled out another file and passed it over to her father, not sparing him a single glance. "The One-Tail's Jinchūriki."

The silence was deafening and Shizuka took that moment to observe the people around her. The Hokage's expression was blank as if he already suspected something of the sort. Her father and Inoichi had sombre expressions, although she could tell they were also slightly surprised. Ibiki and Jackal were tense, both were staring intently at the youngest shinobi in the room.

"I've only felt that sort of raw, angry, _malevolent_ chakra once. When I was about five years old." Shizuka explained before anyone could ask for an explanation. "That kid is unstable, the kid didn't sleep the entire night, my guess is something is wrong with his seal."

"You passed out." Her father was the one to break the ensuing silence. "Bear sent a clone to let us know. "What happened?"

"They located me, realised I was a sensor and Gaara's chakra _attacked_ mine. It was a hard enough shove that it bulldozed every protection I had." Shizuka winced as she remembered the force. "The fact that Baki realised Chipmunk was a sensor didn't help, although they don't seem to know it was me specifically."

"Would you like me to help?" Inoichi spoke for the first time since she entered the room and Shizuka replied with a grateful smile as the man placed a hand on her forehead.

Normal healing chakra was a pain as it tended to linger in her body afterwards and wearing off slowly, but Inoichi's clan techniques allowed him to go straight into her mind and alleviate the pressure there, and once he let go it was gone immediately. The fact that she was so familiar with his chakra only helped the entire situation.

"Thank you, Inoichi-Oji-San." Shizuka gave him another smile once he stepped back before she turned to Jackal. "I'd recommend some changes to the guard rota."

"We'll take some precautions while they are in the village. During the second test, you keep track of their progress, no need to follow them but remain aware." Jackal ordered and then turned to the Kage who had finally put down his pipe.

"Shikaku, Jackal we will adapt the plan after the meeting with their Jōnin. Shizuka-Chan, we will need a report with everything you have by today, but for now, you must return to our visitors and escort them here. You are dismissed."

With a bow to the Kage and respectful nods to the others, she left in a poof of smoke.

' _This is going to be so much worse than what I expected.'_ With a sigh, she went to the hotel. _'The Rookie Nine… They are in for quite the competition.'_

"Akarui-San, Bloodstone left a request for a meeting with you." A young boy, the son of the art shop's owner called from the shadow of the alley beside the building the ANBU had set up in.

"You never contact me directly."

"It's urgent."

"I can't not now. Tell him I'm doing what he asked of me, but I can't do it if I leave the village now."

"He will be angry."

"He will have to deal with it." Shizuka sighed as the boy nodded. "Thank you, I'll stop by tomorrow in the late afternoon."

"Good night, Akarui-San."

* * *

The next day while the Genin were taking their written exam, Shizuka found herself in the balcony connected to the Jōnin lounge, sitting between Masaru and Genma. She looked up from what she was doing when the Jōnin of the rookie nine and Gai walked in talking about the first part of the Chūnin exam.

"I think I already miss having them around." Kurenai smiled as she sat next to Asuma on the couch in front of them.

"We'll be busy soon enough. Didn't you hear, Ibiki Morino is the proctor for the first exam." Asuma sighed and leaned back in his seat.

"Ibiki-san is a proctor again?" Masaru looked up from his mission report having caught the end of the conversation. "Your teams are about to have a long hour. That man is a sadist."

"Ah, so it'll be a very hard first exam." Kakashi hummed as he pulled out his book. "I wouldn't count them out just yet though."

"True, it isn't bad if you don't panic." Shizuka pitched in from her card game with Genma. Her eyes meeting Masaru's, a teasing smirk on her face. "Besides as long as you don't get caught cheating you'll be fine!"

"Cheating? He wants them to cheat?" Kurenai looked baffled, slightly amusing the others. "What do you mean he's a sadist?"

"I forget you're still new to the Jōnin ranks, Kurenai." Asuma replied as he lit a cigarette, taking a drag before replying. "He's the leader of the Torture and Interrogation division."

"Ibiki only wants them to be two things: decent information gatherers and good teammates." Masaru pinched Shizuka just under her ribs, a place he knew to be ticklish. "So he will put them under pressure by playing with their minds, the whole thing is a well-crafted play."

"They will immediately feel the need to cheat but they might not figure out the entire point of it is to do so." Shizuka batted her teammate's hand and glared at him before returning to her card game. "Your Genin should pass this one just fine, from what I've heard Shika say it's a talented bunch."

"I wonder what twist Ibiki-san will put this time. He changed it the second time he was a proctor." Masaru turned back to his fellow jōnin. "He does like his mind games."

"I wish I knew." Shizuka sighed as she revealed her cards to Genma making the man groan in annoyance. "He asked if I wanted in on the whole thing."

"And you refused because?" Masaru trailed off as he shuffled to look at his teammate. "I would have thought you'd be all in to help."

"He wanted me to pretend to be a Genin."

"I can see that." Masaru teased jumping away from her when he noticed her movement to poke him again. "Why not one of the observers then?"

"He never offered that. Besides, I have other things to do now."

"Ah, yes. Shouldn't you get going then?" Kakashi looked up and gave her an eye smile. "You should probably get ready for your shift during the second part of the exam."

"Hai, hai, Jiji-Senpai." Shizuka grinned before planting a kiss on Genma's cheek and body flickering away, the last sounds she heard from the group was the sound of Kakashi's book hitting Genma in the face and their curses.

Landing on the roof of the building next door she waved cheerily at the laughing Jōnin before speeding towards the academy, taking a moment to note Anko preparing to jump through the window.

Shaking her head she landed on the street below and entered the academy building through the main doors, moving to sit on one of the benches in the entrance hall.

After just a few minutes of waiting, she heard the sound of a window breaking and people coming down the stairs.

In the crowd of Chūnin that had been selected to help in the first exam, she easily spotted Izumo, Kotetsu and surprisingly, Tonbo.

"Tiny!" Izumo and Kotetsu cheered as they approached, Kotetsu raised his hand for her to high-five. "It's been a while."

"I've been busy." Shizuka shrugged before high-fiving Izumo. "Hey, Tonbo! Didn't know you were going to help out this year."

"I offered." Tonbo's tone was quiet as usual, but unseen to most others his chakra flickered minutely. _'Later.'_

"Ah, well I refused. I've been too busy and just wanted to relax for a while."

"You always want a break." Kotetsu teased as he ruffled her hair. "Your brother seemed ready to die of boredom."

"That does sound like him." Shizuka shook her head as she sensed the Genin leaving the exam room. "I'm gonna go check in with Ibiki, I'll see you guys around."

"See you!"

Shizuka waved at some Chūnin she recognised in passing and made her way up the stairs until she found the rookie nine and team Gai walking down.

"You all passed, well done!" Shizuka grinned and tugged her brother into a side hug despite his protests.

"Thanks, nee-san!" Ino grinned back before her expression turned serious. "Do you know our proctors? They seem…"

"I work closely with Ibiki-San and Anko-San is a good friend of mine. Pay attention, because you can learn a lot from both of them." She released her brother and stepped to the side to allow them through, but before her brother passed her she leaned down to whisper some advice. "Stay away from the giant centipedes tomorrow, they're a pain to kill."

Shikamaru whirled around to narrow his eyes at her but she had already started going up the last flight of stairs her chuckles loud and clear to the Genin who looked quizzically at Shikamaru.

"What did she say?" Sakura asked with wide eyes, having been startled by the look on Shikamaru's face.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled before he continued down the stairs his fellow Konoha Genin rambling on theories.

Shizuka's thoughts were interrupted by the youngest Uchiha who had followed her up the stairs, his two teammates just a step behind him.

"Sasuke-kun, is there anything you need?"

"Info cards, how would you get them?" Sasuke's tone was blunt his eyes narrowed on her face gauging her reaction.

"Info cards?"

"One of the contestants had them." Sakura explained stepping up next to the Uchiha. "He pushed chakra into them and information appeared."

"What type of information?" Shizuka asked quietly, sending the Genin a look of caution, her senses flared to ensure they were alone in the staircase. "And who had these?"

"Mission count. Injuries, basic stats. " Sasuke answered, his eyes flickered up and down the staircase. "I'd say bingo book, but on Genin? The name was Kabuto."

"Alright, I'll ask around. Tell your Sensei, but no one else. Stay out of trouble." Shizuka gave them a look to make sure they understood her warning and let them go before turning and continuing her path to find the two proctors.

"You're late, Tiny." Anko called as she entered the room where she was waiting with Ibiki. "What's wrong?"

"We have an issue." Shizuka focuses on the area around them as she walks down the classroom aisle to sit on a bench of the front row of desks.

Anko spun around slightly from her position sitting on top of the desk while Ibiki just observed her silently from where he was leaning against the teacher's desk.

"Someone named Kabuto had info cards on the Genin. More detailed than what they should have been." Shizuka clasped her hands and propped her chin on top, her expression thoughtful as she ran through possibilities. "If a Genin has the capabilities of gathering information on mission count, injuries, basic stat points at this level…"

"Yakushi Kabuto, Konoha, orphan, medical ninja trainee." Ibiki unsealed a file and threw it at Shizuka's table who glanced at him before flicking through the papers. "Who told you?"

"Sasuke brought it up when I ran into the rookies." Shizuka pushed the file away and looked up at the other two. "Is there anything else to be found on him? His sensei?"

Ibiki's eyes flickered to Anko before staring back at Shizuka.

"Jōnin Rikuto. A former member of-"

"Team Orochimaru" Anko growled, launching off the table to roughly grab the file and scanning over the basic details repeatedly. "No way has Rikuto kept contact with the Snake."

"He's still in the clear, but it's worth having a look. Shizuka while in the forest have a summon follow his team, but continue with your mission as planned." Ibiki gave Anko a cautioning look as the woman crumpled the paper with how hard she was holding them. "For tonight, add their team in your surveillance, it's out of your area, but I'll have Aoba adjust his own area to compensate."

"Alright." Shizuka nodded before turning her full attention to Anko who still had anger rolling off her in waves. "Anko, I truly believe your teammate is innocent."

Anko didn't reply or even acknowledge the younger kunoichi, but she could feel Ibiki's gaze on her as she watched the purple haired woman.

"It's too obvious. I never met the Sannin, but I assume he's smarter than using his former student for something like this. I think something else led Kabuto to Orochimaru, I just can't name what it was just yet."

"Yeah, sure." Anko exhaled and paused, her gaze far away for a couple of breaths before she focused on the other two shinobi in the room. "So we're letting them proceed with whatever they are doing."

"We don't know what they are doing just yet." Ibiki pointed out after contemplating the Jōnin. "All evidence points that Orochimaru is planning something so we have measures in place to avoid catastrophe, but we don't want panic so it's more subtle than if it was a war."

"You think it could escalate to that?" Shizuka asked her eyes wide as she observed him.

"I think we don't have enough information. We must prepare for the worst-case scenario." Ibiki collected the file from Anko and sealed it back up before moving to collect the tests from the tables. "You're a decent strategist, walk me through what you thought during the last meeting."

"If we remove the competition that is suspicious we have an international issue, so we must let them complete until we have proof. Whatever they were planning it wouldn't be in this part, nor will it be in the second."

"Why?"

"Not public enough." Shizuka replied Anko's question quickly, barely pausing before she continued, her eyes locked onto Ibiki's form moving down the rows. "So that leaves the third exam, which means their pawns in the exam will make it to that point. Knowing that we need to let them compete, we plan subtle methods of protecting the village. The type we would use during wartime: sensors build a list to track people, ANBU are assigned surveillance targets and special protection guard rotations."

Shizuka paused as she leaned backwards tilting her head back to stare at the ceiling, counting the soundproofing plates idly as she contemplated the rest of the plan.

"The Forest of Death and Anko's exam will allow for ANBU to meddle without garnering suspicion of bias. Coupled with everything else we should have enough information to complete the board and stipulate their plan."

"All while keeping casualties down." Ibiki finished, his eyes scanning over one of the contestant's exam. "Huh, we let one pass without answering a single question."

"Please tell me it wasn't my brother…" Shizuka sighed as she turned to face the man who sent her an amused look over his shoulder.

"Would he really do that? No, it was Uzumaki Naruto."

"He would. Though I'm not surprised at Naruto being the one either." Shizuka hummed before she moved to help collect the tests. "Is there anything else we need to discuss?"

"The Sound Genin did attack one of the other contestants, Kabuto, actually." Ibiki replied his eyes scanning each paper before moving on to the next. "Didn't land a physical hit, but you can't dodge a sound wave in close quarters."

"Ouch, that would be a pain to fight." Shizuka winced sympathetically. "Who is monitoring them?"

"Aoba, I believe is in charge of their sector, so it's right next to yours." Anko commented, her expression already changing back to the confident one she usually wore.

"Will avoid them then, chakra pulses are too troublesome for me to deal with."

"You should go, I believe your lunch break is already over." Anko sent her a wink as she pulled the collected exams from the younger kunoichi and nudged her out of the room. "Don't stay up late tonight, you will have an interesting couple of days in the forest."

"Yeah, yeah. Good afternoon for both of you, I'll see you tomorrow." Shizuka waved at them before she jumped out of the broken window, her senses already locating her first surveillance target.

* * *

The next morning Shizuka met up with all her ANBU squad members for their mission in the forest that would last the five days of the second exam. Their plan was to circulate in pairs to keep track of everything and do some investigation while they were at it.

The pairs were Cat-Taichō and Mantis, Grizzly and Horse and Shizuka with Ape. That way they had at least one sensor in each pair as well as one person from long distance and one person for short.

"Horse you are the sensor in your group, keep an eye out for the signals from the other two. Chipmunk, don't forget that you are monitoring everything as a whole as well, don't narrow your focus too much." Cat-Taichō waited for them to nod before addressing the whole team. "We also have the buzzers that should work across the diameter of the forest, but if it doesn't work follow standard A-Rank protocols."

"Ah, the serious stuff." Grizzly commented lightly, knowing that none of them were looking forward to their little _vacation_ in the forest.

"Ape, Chipmunk, go to the entrance, check for anything suspicious and then join us in the forest."

"Hai." Ape and Chipmunk dashed along the side of the forest until they reached where all the Genin were listening to Anko explain the test, sharing a look when the Grass Genin moved fast enough to catch the ANBU off guard and his interaction with Anko.

Shizuka watched the rookie nine collect their scrolls and proceed to their gates, not bothering to try listening to what words they exchanged and instead of turning to look at Ape who returned with a list of teams and their starting gates.

"Kakashi-Senpai's team is in our area, creepy Grass guy is far away, so Taichō and Mantis can deal with them. The sand team is in Bear and Horse's area."

"Got it, do you have a copy of that list?" Shizuka nodded and accepted the two copies Ape passed her. "I'll send my summons to them, then have them follow the Sand, Grass and Sound teams."

"I get the Sand team, even the Sound team, but why grass?"

"Something just doesn't feel right. That one guy… He's no ordinary Genin." Shizuka closed her eyes and spread her senses. "Alright, let's get started."

Shizuka weaved the handsigns for the summoning jutsu and gave Kei, Jun and Toka their orders before letting them know who they were keeping watch on. The two ANBU watched the racoons disappear into the trees before launching into the thick foliage for their five-day adventure.

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments!**

 **Arkytior's Song**

Hahaha I'm glad you liked it! It will be soon! Hope it lives up to expectations xD More Genma and family scenes soon!

Thank youuuu! It was indeed quite hectic, but I still have one exam left so I'm not in the clear yet.

 **Guest #1**

I'm glad you enjoyed it! They will be interacting more now that the Chūnin exams have started.

Genma wanted romantic advice, and Kakashi decided he should read Icha Icha since Kakashi sees them as romance novels xD

Team seven training is in the chapter after the next (so chapter 37), at least that's the plan, I might have to split one of the chapters as it might get too long.

 **Pigs103**

*heart eyes* Thank youuuuu! You have no idea how much your review made me smile :D

My chapters have been longer now that canon is starting, so longer and more frequent chapters coming soon (when my summer break starts I might even do double updates if I'm inspired enough) ;P

 **Candice**

Thank you! Both Gai and Kakashi will have interesting storylines with Shizuka in the next few arcs of the story.

Hope you liked the chapter! Still have one exam left, so another two weeks wait, but it's back to weekly updates after!

 **Leannn**

Heyyy!

Thank youuuuuuu! Your reviews always make me smile :D There will definitely be more missions together and we will see them training during that one month of the Chūnin Exams. Poor Shizuka she's going to have one hell of a time xD

Yes yes Kakashi recommended his "romance" novels to Gen ;P Though that means more romance coming soon!

 **xXSakuraBlossomsXx**

Thank you! Updates have been slow because of uni, but I promise you will get weekly updates soon! Again, thank you for the lovely message!

 **Guest #2**

I know! While I enjoy creating my own storyline it'll be fun to see how I can weave it together with canon, so I'm looking forward to the challenge. Thank you! I can't wait to start writing more trouble xD

 **Guest #3**

Thank you! It was great waking up to your comment xD Almost out of the clear of exams so more frequent updates shall start soon! Thank you so much again, reading everyone's comments always makes me very happy. :D

 **Thanks for the comments!**

 **xx**


	36. Snake in the Forest

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Sorry for the lack of updates in the last couple of weeks. I'm officially back and on vacation, therefore I'm hoping to get my updates to a more regular schedule.**

 **Someone asked for me to go over the OCs and ANBU masks:**

 **Shizuka's summons:**

 **Kei (her main summon), Jun, Gin, Seto, Toka**

 **ANBU Masks:**

 **Shizuka - Chipmunk**

 **Shun - Mantis**

 **Kaito - Hyena**

 **If there are any characters you want a recap on, I can post a proper list at the start of the next chapter. I shouldn't be introducing any new big characters for a while after this.**

 **On another note, another reader mentioned how I skipped over the Kyūbi attack in the first chapter and that was because I didn't know exactly how I wanted to write that just yet. It will come up eventually, maybe even an entire chapter just for those events, but we will see how it goes.**

 **Thanks and I hope you enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 36 - Snake in the Forest**

"We have a problem." Chipmunk whispered to Ape as they made their way deeper into the forest.

"It's been one hour!" Ape grumbled as he stopped next to the crouched kunoichi. "What could possibly have gone wrong in one hour?"

"The Grass team has been going straight to Kakashi-Senpai's team, also there's only one of them."

"Let me guess, the creepy definitely not a Genin one?" Ape answered drily, groaning when Chipmunk just tilted her head in agreement. "They were in Cat-Taichō's area, what's going on with them?"

"Anko-San is heading towards them, I'll signal them now. What's your call?"

"Intercept the intruder and stall for the rest to get here on time. Warn Bear and Stag, they should stay on the original task but stay on standby for backup."

Chipmunk nodded and they changed their direction towards where the fake Grass nin was coming from. Shizuka darted ahead and flared her chakra to reach for the other two sensors to get their attention. Meanwhile, Ape started murmuring the details they found into the radio they had but didn't activate the emergency buzzer.

Tuning out of her teammate's messages, Shizuka did a quick sweep of the forest, wincing as she noticed the chakra from the Sand Jinchūriki flare along with the fading out of a Genin team he had encountered.

It didn't take them much time to intercept the fake Genin. The shinobi they encountered was so far beyond the Genin level Shizuka could actually strangle whoever allowed this person into the forest. But seeing as she had to fight for survival, she would settle for just ensuring they had a fun evening complaining to their superiors.

Taking a sharp turn to her left, Chipmunk grasped onto Ape's vest and tugged him along, giving his shoulder a squeeze as they watched the branches they had been heading towards were completely destroyed by a massive wind jutsu.

Ape gave her a nod and moved to engage with a fire jutsu in hopes of forcing the enemy to dodge into Shizuka's range, but it was in vain as the man simply jumped over the stream of fire to attack him.

With a quick draw of his katana Ape parried the man's kunai. Shizuka jumped in from behind the enemy and slashed at his back only to be countered and kicked back.

' _Damn, he's fast. Who's the idiot that didn't notice a Jōnin level person into a Genin exam?'_ Shizuka groaned mentally as she twisted in mid-air to land on a tree trunk before launching back at the pair.

Ape gave her space for her to attack and they worked together to keep the man on the defensive, knowing that Cat and Mantis should be on their way to back them up after Shizuka had signalled for them.

The situation just got worse after that since the man not only put _them_ on the defensive but had them jumping back to regroup and the two ANBU were unable to land a single blow to their opponent.

The Konoha ANBU pair shared a glance and with a single motion of Ape's hand, they set a new plan into place. Jumping back to the enemy's side they pushed for riskier moves that left their guard open the slightest bit more. While they got more scratches to their bodies than their usual combinations, it also allowed them to find more holes in their opponent's guard.

Their backup was late, and they really couldn't keep this up for too long. Shizuka mentally cursed as Ape stumbled back after a brutal blow from the man which left her side open for attack. The Grass nin took that gap as soon as it opened and Shizuka could either block and probably fail as she was not nearly as strong physically or she could use her shadows.

In a split-second decision, Shizuka dropped her tantō to fly through the handsigns to capture the shinobi who froze in place just before his kunai could drive too deep into Shizuka's side.

Shizuka stumbled back with the ninja following her movements, gritting her teeth to keep the possession in place as one hand flew to her side to stem the bleeding from the slash at her ribcage and the other to cushion her fall.

In the next few moments, Shizuka could only gasp as the man started chuckling darkly his long strands of hair covering his face, a dark familiar feeling chakra emanating from him as he licked his lips with a creepy long tongue.

"Pesky Nara." The man rasped, his eyes flashing a golden yellow before he disappeared in a puff of smoke before either ANBU had time to react to the reveal of the Snake Sannin.

Shizuka gasped as out of seemingly nowhere a giant snake summon launched at her, but her muscles seemed to freeze up and for a moment she couldn't move. Just as the snake's head descended on her a wall of wood appeared in front of her just as Cat-Taichō appeared to pick her up and jump away the moment the snake broke through the wooden shell.

Cat placed her next to Ape who was seemingly unconscious while Mantis knelt by his side, his kikaichū crawling around the cuts Ape had received during their fight with the Sannin.

"Shit." Shizuka gasped as her mind finally caught up with what had happened. "Is Ape alright?"

"Hai, my kikaichū are removing the poison." Mantis reached his hand towards her and she reached back allowing some of the beetles to crawl onto her hand and move towards her wounds. "Considering how long you two lasted its likely only a paralytic with mild chakra blockage."

"Chipmunk, report." Cat landed back on the branch the other three members of his team were settled after dealing with the massive snake. He immediately knelt down and helped her remove her vest and wrapping a bandage around her abdomen before helping her put the vest back on.

"Orochimaru disguised himself as a Grass nin and is currently in search of Kakashi-Senpai's team."

"Can you take us to them?"

"Hai, but…" Shizuka glanced back at Ape's sweating and shivering form. "Ape needs to be taken to the hospital, this isn't a typical response to the paralytic. I've built some resistance to similar toxins from my earlier training with Anko-Senpai."

"He's having an adverse reaction." Mantis nodded his head turning towards the direction of the tower just moments before Shizuka herself noticed what was happening.

"Anko-Senpai!" Shizuka sighed as the purple haired proctor appeared with two other ANBU in tow. "We've got a problem."

Mantis helped Shizuka stand, while Cat passed Ape off to the medic that had arrived with Anko.

"I can see that. Orochimaru-"

"Shit. He's already reached team seven." Shizuka groaned as she felt the waves of chakra emanating from the Genin and their opponent. "We need to move."

"Damnit." Anko swore, her eyes darting to the unconscious ANBU to Shizuka's injured side to the two ANBU with her. "You two, warn the Hokage and take that one to the Hospital. Chip, can you guide?"

"Hai. I'll stay back for support." Chipmunk gave Cat a nod as she sensed his near protest. "We need to hurry, we might have a furry problem."

Cat and Anko gave her an alarmed look having caught on to the reference while Mantis just tilted his head in confusion, but like any truly experienced shinobi, the comment didn't freeze them for more than a second before they launched into the trees right after her.

Chipmunk gave them a signal to stop as they noticed Naruto's form hanging from a tree. Once they were satisfied that he was alive and his _guest_ wasn't a threat, not that Mantis needed to know that part, they moved closer to the rest of team seven only to see Sasuke collapse and Sakura jumping to inspect him.

Once Shizuka confirmed that the Uchiha was alive and simply unconscious, Cat gave the signal to continue pursuit of the Sannin and told Anko to stay and handle the results of the exam.

"Anko-Senpai, a team has already finished, the Sand team. You are needed at the tower." Chipmunk gave the proctor a look waiting for the woman to agree before launching back into the trees. "He's good at hiding, but I've got a lock on his chakra."

The trio proceeded running at full speed in pursuit of the Sannin which led them out of the village and into the forest surrounding Konoha.

"Dammit! There is an ANBU team returning from patrol they are about to cross paths." Chipmunk grunted as she pushed more chakra into her legs.

"Signal them off, do not engage." Cat-Taichō called back as he and Mantis pushed to match her increased pace. "Chipmunk, you are injured, stay back and play the support, Mantis you'll have to put those kenjutsu skills to the test."

Shizuka did as she was told and located the sensor of the team and gave a warning shove, to which the sensor replied with a question of her reason. Using standard code, three shoves at a sensor's range, signifying danger, the ANBU team took her warning and abruptly changed their course.

It wasn't enough.

Shizuka cursed and relayed the information that the ANBU team had clashed with the Sannin, drawing a mumbled string of curses from her usually composed captain.

They arrived at the scene what felt like hours later but in truth, it had been mere minutes after Shizuka's warning. In just a few minutes Orochimaru had gone through four of the six returning ANBU. She pushed the horror at the man's power aside to focus on the rapidly worsening situation.

Shizuka could sense them spread across a small area, two dead and two fatally injured, their blood covering the floor below them. The two remaining ANBU were covered in scrapes, one was stumbling out of the way, an injury on his left leg while the other launched increasingly high ranked jutsu at the Sannin to keep him away.

Cat-taichō gave the signal for Shizuka to stay back and play support while going to help the two ANBU still fighting, leaving Mantis to check on the two that had fallen, to check if there was anything they could do.

There wasn't, and the two soon died from their injuries, leaving Mantis to seal their bodies away in black scroll marked for allies to bring back home. Shizuka made sure to keep an eye on the newest member of the squad so that he wouldn't get caught in the crossfire while also launching her shadows to try catching the Sannin off guard.

She spread her senses to ensure that no one else would interfere and cursed at what she had found.

' _Damnit, more unknowns, I must have missed them in the rush to catch up to the Snake bastard.'_ With an eye on the fight around her, she counted the number of enemies lying in wait. _'How are they so close? Oh… Genjutsu and an underground lair? You've got to be kidding me.'_

Shizuka knelt next to Mantis as he finished sealing the last body, her eyes still observing the fight happening up in the branches above them. For a moment she wondered what miracle had kept them safe from the various ninjutsu being exchanged, but decided that it was better than the alternative.

"We're outnumbered, we can't go further and we won't last in this fight." Shizuka whispered, taking note of the nervous buzz from Mantis' kikaichū. "I'll try to hold Orochimaru down for Albatross and Taichō to retreat, you'll have to dash in to help Moose."

Mantis didn't make a sound as he put the scroll in his pocket and stood his hands clenched into a fist by his side. Shizuka observed him for a moment before she clasped her hands in the rat seal, her shadow swirling around her for a moment before she seemingly disappeared.

For less than a second Shizuka was gone from the area, only a trace of her chakra on the floor before she reappeared at the base of the tree that Orochimaru was standing on.

He barely glanced her way, merely launching a fireball down at her, before he launched a destructive wind jutsu towards the ANBU.

He could get out of the Nara's shadow possession without much of an effort. There were very few Nara that had the control and power to hold him for longer than a minute. What he didn't expect is to fall _into_ the girl's shadow, his body up to his thighs seemingly disappearing into the tree branch he hadn't bothered to move from.

"Go! Get out! This won't hold for long." Chipmunk called from the base of the tree.

Albatross, having been exhausted from fighting retreated to Mantis who had one of Moose's arms slung over his shoulder. Cat launched towards the captured opponent, but the Sannin opened his mouth and another one of him came out.

"Shit." Shizuka gasped as Orochimaru shed his own skin and broke free of her shadow pit, for the second time that day she relied on Cat's reflexes to get out of the way of the man's attack.

"Chipmunk, focus." Cat hissed next to her ear as they leapt away from the tree with their enemy and landed closer to the other tree that had waited to see the outcome. "Retreat, we can't win this."

Shizuka made eye contact with the Sannin who simply tilted his head as he watched the five ANBU retreat. She lost sight of him moments later when Cat let go of her waist and started the run back to the village.

 **"Kuchiyose no Jutsu."** Shizuka bit her thumb and slammed her hand on the ground, revealing her main summon, Kei. "Kei, see that pile of skin? I need you to follow him, do _not_ engage or even let yourself be seen, reverse summon if you are in danger and come find me once you're done."

The dark grey racoon nodded her head and dashed to the tree where the rogue ninja had been caught by Shizuka's shadows. Once she was satisfied that Kei had found the trail she launched after the team, sensing them just up ahead.

Pushing herself to her full speed it didn't take her long to catch up to them since they had two injured in their party.

"I've sent a summon on the trail, hopefully, to find a hideout, maybe just figure out some points of contact. No one is pursuing us." She called as she drew up next to Cat, who glanced over his shoulder to look at her.

"Good work." Cat nodded at her and she fell back to run alongside Albatross, at the rear of their group.

"Your chakra is unstable." She pointed out as they fell into step. "Hasn't Mantis tried to extract it?"

"No time and Mantis is already working on Moose, other than my senses being murky, and my chakra being sluggish, I can make it to the village." Albatross fell into silence. Shizuka didn't have to see his face to know he was looking at Moose's form just ahead of them, an arm slung over Mantis' shoulder. "Moose isn't doing so well, pretty sure he has several broken ribs and a concussion."

Albatross sighed before turning his head to watch the youngest member of their little group.

"When you signalled me to move off, Orochimaru had already located us." His tone was dry as he stated the fact. "We tried to move away but he pursued, probably to get you off his trail."

"I should've been able to warn you sooner, but I'm not at full capacity." Shizuka said slowly, watching the older man from the corner of her eye.

"It would have been worse, the minutes you gave us allowed us to form a line and form a plan." Albatross paused releasing a quiet sigh. "Even now, it is better than the alternative."

"Small comforts."

"We lost Antelope… The sector division for sensors will have to shift around, do you know who bordered his area?"

Shizuka sighed as she tried to remember the division of areas for the sensors. It was normal for the sensors of the village to have a sector to monitor during large events and when there was a war. With the looming threat and Chūnin exams, the sensors had been notified of starting to patrol their sectors.

Albatross is one of the most experienced and talented sensors of the village and is in charge of the Hokage building and surrounding blocks. Shizuka was given the commercial district since the area was in the middle of the village it allowed her to cover the entirety of the village from there. The sectors were assigned to each sensor based on size to match their ranges, concentration of people and finally importance.

"Antelope had a southern residential, I believe. It borders Aoba-Senpai's sector from the east, and mine from the south-east. I'll warn Jackal and the Jōnin commander that they need to rethink the division."

Albatross nodded and the pair fell into silence for the rest of their journey back into the village. During that time Shizuka allowed her thoughts to wander on everything that had happened that day and what the consequences were going to be.

Before she could finish running through possible scenarios of what would happen, the group pushed through the gates, immediately drawing the attention of the Chūnin on duty.

"Chipmunk, Albatross and Moose, to the hospital. Mantis with me for an emergency debrief." Cat-taichō ordered as he flew through the check-in process for them, the poor Chūnin on duty barely following Cat's movements, merely nodding blankly once they checked everything was in order. "Albatross and Moose I expect Jackal will ask for a verbal report later. Chipmunk, you'll also need to debrief the task force."

Cat and Mantis left right after Cat had finished giving the orders and Mantis helped Albatross take over the task of helping Moose walk.

"You're ditching the hospital, aren't you, Chip?" Albatross sighed, reaching under his mask to scrub his eyes.

"Ah, you know me so well, Alba?" Shizuka chirped happily as she ran her hand over her bandaged side. "Deep enough for stitches but not worth the hassle of medical ninjutsu."

"Just, get out of here before anyone figures it out. I'm not covering your ass if Cat asks." Albatross shook his head but proceeded to adjust Moose's arm over his shoulder. "And stop calling me Alba."

"Bye Alba! Bye Moose!" Chipmunk waved cheerily before she jumped up to a nearby roof, though she did hear Alba's complaints and Moose's chuckle before she made her way home.

After the day she had, she could practically _hear_ the warm shower calling her name.

* * *

Sneaking into her house was easy as her mother wasn't home and thus the house was empty. She jumped into the shower slowly peeling of the bandages and wincing at the sight.

' _Definitely going to need stitches.'_ Shizuka sighed as she went through the motions while taking extra care with her injury. Stepping out of the shower she made sure there wasn't any blood in the shower as to not freak out her mother and then packed her bloodied clothes to wash at headquarters.

After quickly wrapping her torso with new bandaged and throwing on one of the looser black turtlenecks shirts she had and the ANBU vest over that. After making sure there wasn't any evidence for her mother to get worried about, she left the bathroom and stopped in her room to get her emergency first aid kit and put it in her bag.

Heading straight to the mind map room she was glad when no one tried to talk to her on the way but she waved slightly at the receptionist who greeted her as she walked into the building. She didn't bother turning on the main light and opted to turn on the desk light instead, collapsing into the chair before letting her vest fall to the floor so that she could patch herself up. As she rolled her shirt up to her ribs for better access.

"Shizuka." Shizuka jumped as her father's voice sounded from the door, his eyes focused on her scanning her form, stopping a moment longer at her side. He flicked on the switch of the lights and in a few long strides he knelt at her side. "Let me see that."

She sighed and leaned back, allowing her father to gently prod at the slash that ran from her lower ribcage to her bellybutton. He reached for the first aid kit in her bag and with steady fingers, he stitched her side.

The next people to arrive were Inoichi and Ibiki, who paused at the door momentarily to see Shikaku tying the last few stitches on his daughter's side. The Yamanaka clan head then moved over to the chair.

"You should have gone to the hospital." Inoichi chided, his eyes glancing down at the stitch job and inspecting it from Shikaku's side, his tone turning dry with an underlying hint of amusement. "You've gotten better at that."

Shikaku glanced up at his teammate's comment before shrugging and helping Shizuka stand so that he could wrap her stomach up with clean bandages.

"Your head okay, Shizuka-chan?"

"Yeah, I'm just tired." She yawned as her father continued the job. "Remind me to avoid confronting a Sannin again."

"Gladly." Inoichi gave her head a pat before he moved back to the wall where Ibiki had busied himself with reading her scattered notes. "What happened to back up?"

"All the teams had something to worry about, got them delayed from helping my unit out sooner, but made it in time before any permanent damage was dealt." Shizuka winced as her father tied the bandages and gave her another once over.

"Shizuka-chan, good evening, I would like a verbal report of what happened." The Hokage called as he entered the room with Jackal in tow.

"Hai, but shouldn't Kakashi-Senpai hear it as well? It is his team at the centre of this, after all." Shizuka glanced around the room taking note of their raised eyebrows and expectant looks. "He's also already on his way here."

Her father sighed and turned to her bag fishing out the mask from between the bloody uniform shirt and vest. He paused as he took in the mask for the first time, his fingers traced over the markings and ears, his lips twitching into an amused smile for a moment before he passed it over.

As soon as she clipped the mask into place the Team Seven Sensei knocked on the door and came in once the Hokage called him in. She snickered as Kakashi paused at the door of her mind map room, his eyes moved across the room a few times before it settled on the Hokage. He bowed and greeted the people in the room with a small bow and stepped further into the room, closing the door behind him.

From the little part of his face that was visible, Shizuka could tell he was somewhat surprised by the state of the room. She couldn't really blame him. Kakashi hadn't been on any missions with her where she had made a map, therefore he's never actually seen one in person.

The room currently had pretty much all the walls covered in information, some strings were trailing down the walls and across the room to the wall opposite as her cases had unexpected connections. To be honest, she had simply been too lazy to try moving things around so that it could all fit on a single wall.

"If this is a physical manifestation of your head, _tiny_ , I truly wonder how you're still somewhat sane."

Shizuka rolled her eyes, the action is hidden by her mask and turned to the Hokage who stood to the side of the room.

"Should have expected putting it on would be useless." Shizuka deadpanned as she removed the mask from her face glancing at the Hokage whose lips twitched into a small smile for a moment before turning back to the silver-haired ninja. "And what do you mean _somewhat_ sane?"

She didn't get an answer as her father called for her attention as he flips over a page on the wall to reveal a small set of notes she had made.

"What do these notes mean?"

"Oh! One of my CIs only sends me information in codes, that one there is just a note with names of people working for one of Orochimaru's suppliers. I have people with their eyes out for them, but nothing has come through yet."

"That's the green string then?" The silver-haired Jōnin picked at said string leading from the wall across the room to cluster of info on Orochimaru.

"Hai. Green means direct and confirmed links. Red is unsolved links. Black is to link on the map. White is for connecting things to different areas once I ran out of space." Shizuka shrugged at the raised eyebrows, "Saves me time instead of reorganizing the entire wall."

"Do I even want to know how you put this in a report?" Kakashi walked forward and started following along the strings to try to make sense of the entire case.

"Documents get sealed, and a guide book on everything gets written down using codes for each set of paper, it's troublesome to write, but it makes reconstructing them easier."

"Huh, not as complicated as I expected." He commented drily. "Now, who wants to tell me what the hell happened in that forest?"

"Well, after meeting my squad Cat-Taichō sent my unit to check the contestants and get the list of gates. Each of the units was given a sector to keep an eye on, but as soon as the exam started things fell out of place." Shizuka shuffled around her drawer and pulled up a map of the Forest of Death and placed small pins at the relevant places. "An hour into the exam, Orochimaru disguised as the Grass Genin started heading straight towards Kakashi-Senpai's team."

As she explained she pointed to the relevant pins, her eyes moving from each person around the table and back to the map, checking to see if they had any questions.

"Ape and I moved to intercept and the Sannin was caught by surprise with my shadow, but he broke free before we could act. We were left suffering under a mild paralytic and chakra blocker and with a giant snake attacking us, that's when backup arrived."

"Who decided to pursue?" Jackal questioned as he moved closer to inspect the map, trailing a finger through the paths they had taken from each location and calculating distances.

"Cat-Taichō and Anko-Senpai sent two ANBU with Ape to the hospital, and taichō told Anko-Senpai to stay and deal with the rest of the exam while we pursued. Orochimaru had reached team seven by then, Naruto was unconscious his chakra slightly unstable, Sasuke was also out, but Sakura was up and already moving to get her teammates to a defensive camp."

"Naruto's chakra, what about it was unstable?" The Hokage cut into her report, his eyes focused on her, his tone and posture letting her know the severity of the question and its implications.

"The seal seemed off, but didn't seem to be in danger of breaking, I'd still recommend a seal master have a look." Shizuka raised her hand as she sensed the protest. "I know for a fact Jiraiya isn't far from here, he should be able to arrive a day or so into the month-long break."

"Can you get a message to him? It will also be a good opportunity for you two to finally meet officially." The Hokage tilted his head in agreement to her assessment and she confirmed with a nod. "Continue with the events."

Shizuka sent a sharp look to Kakashi who tilted his head in acknowledgement before she continued.

"Sasuke also showed a slightly unstable chakra, one I've come to associate with a cursed seal." Shizuka paused to look around the room before she continued with her report. "From what I understand from having fought people with those, there is more than one stage, his seal is likely in the initial phase as Orochimaru didn't have a long time, but it's powerful. I can easily identify an underlying chakra that isn't Sasuke's. What you do with that information is beyond me, perhaps Jiraiya might know something we don't."

"We will discuss it at a later time." The Hokage conceded before gesturing at the map. "Where was team seven when you saw them?"

"Around this area, I can check, if you wish as it's within my range." Shizuka offered as she circled an area on the map with her fingers. "Sakura wouldn't have gone too far, not with two unconscious teammates. The area has a lot of thick root dens, it would allow them to have some cover and hide while they recover."

She glanced at Kakashi for a moment who was staring at her, his chakra more agitated than usual. Without waiting for the Hokage she closed her eyes and pushed her senses out, barely taking note that her father had moved back to her side.

It took only a few moments for her to narrow in on the forest and just over a minute to pinpoint the familiar signatures of Naruto and Sasuke. Once she had them located she used the reference markers across the village the sensors have to memorise to be able to draw a grid and locate anything within the walls.

"They moved towards the river, but are still in the densely packed forested area." Shizuka opened her eyes after a few minutes, wrinkling her nose as a wave of tiredness passed through her, before making eye contact with Kakashi again giving him a small nod. "There aren't any immediate threats, I'm sure they'll be back on track soon. Too stubborn not to."

"Move on to the pursuit."

"We followed him out of the forest, Albatross and his team were returning from a patrol when they were ambushed. I signalled them off and they changed course, but Orochimaru had already spotted them." Shizuka took a deep breath and pointed to the last location on the map. "Four ANBU were killed before my team arrived, Moose was injured and Albatross was losing ground. It was a losing battle and we retreated."

"Just like that." Ibiki cut in, his eyes narrowed on her with his arms crossed. "Your exhausted team escaped the Sannin."

"I caught him with another shadow." Shizuka glanced at her father shrugging slightly at him. "That thing we were practising? It worked, but he escaped by _shedding his skin._ "

"He had to do it a couple of times, against Ape and I and I think against team seven if the charred trees and the pile of mush I noticed were anything to go by. The technique probably has a limit." Shizuka shook her head before turning to look at the Hokage again. "Point is, he was caught off guard again and didn't see the point of coming after us so we escaped without any further incident. That was likely his intention anyway."

"Hm, knowing how our teams work he would have expected your team to retreat thus allowing him to retreat without further conflict."

"Well, I sent a summon after him, at least in hopes of finding the underground lair I found." Shizuka huffed and moved to the larger map showing some of the areas beyond the walls of the village. "A _heavily_ trapped, genjutsu layered hideout here. Caught quite a few signatures, around fifty or so, but I doubt that's the only one."

"It wouldn't be enough to break through the walls." Jackal pointed out as the others silently thought over the information. "We'll have to rethink the plans and make adjustments to this new information."

"Which reminds me, Antelope died, we are missing a sensor for the Southern residential sector, Aoba-Senpai and I are the two closest with largest ranges to capable of covering it, we'd be able to split it if we can't find anyone else for the task." Shizuka pitched in her fingers trailing down towards the area she referenced.

"We'll discuss it and let you know the final decision. Is there anything else of note from your confrontation with the Sannin?"

"Not really, Anko-Senpai and I have worked on similar toxins while we were developing my current toxins, so we both have some immunity but it still muddled everything a bit. Mantis' has samples to analyse and for the hospital to work on."

Jackal nodded in acknowledgement and turned to the Hokage to speak but was interrupted by the door to the room opening.

"Shizuka-chan!" Kei, Shizuka's main summon called, as she stretched her body upwards while standing on her hind paws to reach the doorknob. "Oh, you have important company here… Sorry!"

"Kei, that's alright, come in." Shizuka smiled at the racoon who fell back onto all four paws, shuffling into the room and nudging the door closed with a paw before scurrying over to Shizuka. "Did you go after the snake?"

"Hai. Stayed out of sight but he met up with a group of cloaked shinobi who had a dark aura, like that guy from the other mission with team seven." Kei replied stretching to climb up Shizuka's side, hesitating slightly as she let out a pained breath when she passed over her injured side. "Sorry."

"It alright." Shizuka helped the dark grey racoon move to her uninjured side and settle on her shoulder. "Think you could lead us back and help with tracking?"

Shizuka reached into the pouch on her thigh and pulled out a handful of walnuts and dried berries, offering them to Kei who nudged her cheek fondly in appreciation. The summon replied to the question with an enthusiastic nod as she chewed on the snacks.

"I'll have Cat lead Mantis, Tiger and Viper on the trail. Chipmunk, what's your status?" Jackal stepped up once again scanning over the young Nara.

"I can play support still, won't have full range but still more than anyone in the ranks." Shizuka shrugged giving a gentle pat on Kei's head before helping her back to the floor. "Since the mission is to gather intel and not combat I believe I should go."

Jackal observed her for a moment but nodded, his head turned to the Hokage who also nodded in agreement. He tilted his head to the Jōnin commander, but this was technically out of his area, although he would take the tactician's advice as easily as the Hokage often did.

"It's settled then, Kei please fetch Tiger and Viper, they should be at the headquarters on standby. I'll get taichō and Mantis who are probably at the hospital checking up on Ape, we'll meet at the gates as soon as possible." Shizuka glanced up at the Hokage and ANBU commander who nodded back at her.

She gave the people in the room a bow and moved to exit once the Hokage waved her off. As she left she made eye contact with her father, her head tilted in farewell as she slipped into a blank expression, already falling into her mission mentality, but Shikaku could see the creeping exhaustion in her eyes. He wished he could supply another plan, but he also knew that even tired as she was she would be the squad's best chance at avoiding conflict.

Shikaku was the last one to leave the room, shuffling over to his daughter's bag to close it and hoist it over his shoulder before turning the lights of the room off and heading home.

He then made sure to stash away the bloodied clothes somewhere Yoshino wouldn't come across them. She didn't need to be worrying over both her kids. He would be doing enough of that over the next few days for both of them.

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments!**

 **xXSakuraBlossomsXx**

Hello again! I'm happy to be back writing! Bloodstone will be around… We'll meet him soon! Thank you again! Always happy to hear what you think of the update.

 **Whitney1995**

And I did a legit happy dance when I got an email about your comment! We'll just have to see what will happens! Shizuka will not be amused ;P

Thanks for the comment! Always happy to hear from you :D

 **Candice**

Thank you for reading! I enjoy writing their interactions :D Chūnin exams are surprisingly hard to write since I have to break it down into pieces and see how I'm changing the events because of Shizuka… But its fun to write all the same. Thanks for the comment!

 **Arkytior's Song**

Thank you! The exam went very well! It's good to be free of uni for the summer :D

Hope you enjoy the Exams Arc then! I'll try to squeeze in family moments between the canon events. Thanks for the comment!

 **Guest #1**

Thank you! He sure does! And I'll happily provide that XD More fluff coming soon, I promise!

 **Leannn**

Aw! I'm actually rewatching it too, but just as I write so that I can get some scenes right and so on. Yeah! I love Genma and I wish he had appeared more in the series :D And since he's Shizuka's love interest he gets some more scenes :) Thanks for the review! I hope you enjoy the coming chapters!

 **sukondis**

Hello! He does, I've mentioned the event in later chapters. There is a flashback where I will show what happened that day. :D As I mentioned in the AN at the top, I wasn't too sure how to show the event when I started writing but it will come up soon. Thanks for the question!

 **Guest #2**

Hello! Thank you! There will be fluff soon, I promise! Next chapter is the month of training and we'll definitely get to see some cute moments between them. :D The exam was great, thank you!

 **Thanks for the comments!**

 **xx**


	37. Antecipation

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **This chapter has quite a few different parts to it as it goes through the things Shizuka will be doing over the course of the month. Next up is the finals and the invasion!**

 **Thanks! And I hope you enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 37 - Anticipation**

Shizuka sighed as she made her way to the tea shop Kakashi had asked to meet her at.

Six days had passed from her pursuit of Orochimaru's trail and the mission had been inconclusive. They located a base of mercenaries, most were mid-level Chūnin and thus not at all a threat to the trained ANBU. They dispatched most of them and brought the ones they had identified as leaders for T&I to question.

In the lair itself, they found that it had been an old part of one of Orochimaru's labs that hadn't been destroyed and was simply sealed off. After clearing it of any scrolls and possible information the ANBU proceeded to mark the location for destruction at a later date as the whole operation was too close to the village to go unnoticed.

On their return to the village less than a day had passed. Shizuka spent the next day sleeping and resting before her mother found out about her injury and called reinforcements. She had at some point befriended Asami and now the pretty blond nurse had permission from the clan matriarch to show up at their house whenever Shizuka was being stubborn.

For the last three days of the Second Exam, Shizuka was kept at the tower, monitoring the teams from there while also working on compiling whatever information was coming into the village through her contacts.

She was pleasantly surprised when it was announced that a preliminary round was required before they could move on to the final stage of the exams. And although she wasn't able to sneak in to watch the fights herself, she was assured by the rookies' Senseis that they had all fought admirably.

And through all of the preparations that would be happening behind the scenes, the civilians and several shinobi were mostly oblivious to the tension in the air. It had been decided that the reasoning behind the plans would be kept on a need-to-know basis to avoid spreading chaos in the ranks.

This brought her to where she was now. On her way to meet Kakashi, praying that he wouldn't ask what she thought he was going to ask.

The tinkling of the bells above the door warned the waitress to her arrival. Shizuka didn't even look around or try to sense the elusive copy-cat ninja knowing he wouldn't be on time, so she ordered a green tea and some buttery biscuits before sitting in a corner booth next to the window.

It was fifteen minutes after the scheduled meeting time that the silver-haired Jōnin appeared next to the table, with messy hair and a dusty vest.

"You sent Gai after me, really?"

"Ah, we're very good friends, you see." Shizuka smiled cheerily up at him before gesturing to the seat across from her. "Now what would the _great_ Hatake Kakashi need from me?"

"You know exactly what I'm going to ask for."

"Oh, I do, but I need some convincing."

"There aren't many people that are experienced against the Sharingan available to help train Sasuke."

"Available…" Shizuka scowled as she lent back in her seat. "Do you have any idea about the number of things I have to do this month?"

"I'll teach you more lightning jutsus while Sasuke is working on his speed."

"The Chidori?" Shizuka widened her eyes with a hopeful smile only to pout when Kakashi shook his head.

"I wasn't able to do it until the Sharingan, while you're fast and talented, it's not a risk worth taking to learn the jutsu without one."

"Well, if I'm going to be spending so much time working with your two, I might as well get something out of it. Maybe a variation, or combining it with-"

"I'll think about it."

"That was _too_ easy. What else do you want?"

"Naruto is training with Ebisu."

"Are you insane? That is a disaster waiting to happen. Ebisu is an amazing teacher, but Naruto would require a more _open-minded_ approach." Shizuka shook her head, mentally cursing for falling into Kakashi's trap.

Popping another cookie into her mouth and chewing while she considered her options she finally swallowed before making a proposal.

"Jiraiya should be arriving today or tomorrow. If anyone can convince Jiraiya to take on a student, its Naruto."

"Fine, but you'll introduce them."

"Why do I have to do all the work? I haven't ever met Jiraiya."

"A great opportunity then." Kakashi waved away her protest. "Now, I'm taking Sasuke out of the village, I need a racoon and an ANBU bunker."

"Ask Jackal."

"I'm asking you. It can be an abandoned one."

"There is one three hours south of the village, by the river and the road to Wave Country, entrance through the side of the cliff, you know the one? It was partially flooded and we are low on clean up crews but if you only need a shelter with beds then it'll do." Shizuka glared at the man and huffed as the man gazed expectantly at him. "You know if I help it will be on my _one_ free day, right?"

"Wonderful! I'm sure Sasuke will be appreciative." Kakashi eye smiled at her and stood from the table, making a show of ruffling her hair. "What day will you start?"

"My next day off is in four days."

"See you then." Kakashi nodded at her before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, the greenery falling to the floor earning a confused squeak from the waitress.

' _Definitely doing all the work...'_

Sighing at the mess, Shizuka looked apologetically at the young girl who ran to grab a broom to deal with it. The kunoichi stood and left her payment on the table along with a generous tip before walking out of the tea house towards the Nara compound where she had promised to meet team ten.

Asuma had asked her to assist in training team ten since she was familiar with their styles and could offer each one of them help in specific areas. She was still in charge of coordinating the information coming into the village as well as keeping an ear to the ground for rumours from the inside. In her spare time, she was supposed to have patrols followed by a debrief to her father, the Hokage or Jackal. Now she had to add Kakashi and Sasuke to her fully booked schedule.

She exhaled in defeat at the long mental list of things she had to do and waved gloomily at other clan members she passed by on her way to the house. Walking around it to her backyard she quickly spotted Asuma and Shikamaru playing shogi while Ino and Chōji sparred a few metres away.

"Normally preparing for the third round would involve actually sparring." Shizuka snorted as Shikamaru slumped and Asuma shrugged. "Here, I got what you asked for, Asuma."

"Ah, thanks. Ino, Chōji, take a break."

The two of them approached the porch and sat on the cushions laid out, the three Genin quickly narrowing their focus on the little sheets of paper in Shizuka's hand.

"Chakra paper." Asuma explained as he reached for one sheet, holding it between two fingers. "It'll tell you your affinity when you push chakra into it."

His paper was cut in half and caught fire before crumbling into ash. Shizuka passed one to each Genin who took care in observing the paper as they twisted it around to get a feel for it.

He gave a brief explanation on what they should do and the three closed their eyes in concentration. Leaving the two more experienced shinobi to sit back and observe.

The first to get a reaction was Shikamaru when his paper caught fire and crumbled, as soon as it did his eyes snapped open and he smirked as his sister mouthed 'I told you so'. Then it was Ino's paper which turned soggy and flopped down, the girl's eyes were bright as she grinned.

"Water! You were right, Shizuka-Nee!" Ino gave her a thumbs up as the older Nara returned her smile with a shrug. "Oh, look, Chōji's is earth."

"That does make sense, you might have a second affinity for fire as Shizuka initially suggested, but Earth is a good place to start." Asuma nodded giving each student an appraising glance. "Well, Shikamaru looks like I'll be adding fire ninjutsu to your training. Ino, Shizuka can start you off on Water. Chōji, I believe your father can help with some basics, but feel free to ask me too if you get stuck."

"With that out of the way, Asuma, may I?" Shizuka looked at the Jōnin who gave her a nod. "While Shika has to prepare for the next round, I will be training with you guys a bit more. When all three of you are together, Asuma and I will work on your speed and strength, while individually you each have a focus."

"Shikamaru and I will work on strategy and fire ninjutsu, both with me. Ino you'll work on sensory and water, both with Shizuka. And Chōji you'll have Earth with your father and bō staff, as you told me some days ago, Shizuka and I will both help with that."

"When you're not with either of us you should be training clan techniques or working on something else, feel free to ask for help on that too." Shizuka smiled before she waved at the grassy area behind the house. "We'll be training here most of the time, but we might use the Yamanaka and Akimichi compound if the need arises."

"We'll have a schedule drawn up for you to keep track of everything, we're just waiting on Inoichi-San and Chōza-San to let us know how we will slot everything together." Asuma took out a cigarette and his lighter, shuffling around so that he could lean against a column behind him as he took a drag. "For today, it'll be speed training."

"Your objective: don't get caught." Shizuka clapped bringing their attention to her before shooting a look at the cigarette to which Asuma replied with a shrug.

"Caught? By who?" Ino questioned as she stared confusedly at the Nara.

"Shit." Shikamaru cursed as he ducked into a ball and rolled away from the small mass that tried to tackle him from the side.

"Aw, I almost had you Shika-kun!" Gin, Shizuka's smallest summon, pouted, his grey ears flat on his head. "But no worries! I'll be faster and catch you next time!"

"Move! Move! Move!" Shikamaru warned as a couple of other infant racoons started popping up from the roof and forest.

The three Genin sprung up and over the furry creatures and dashed into the backyard, calling to each other to warn them of attackers.

"How many are there?" Asuma snorted as a particularly small one latched onto Ino's leg while another hugged Chōji's neck for dear life as the boy tried to pry it off.

"Thirty." Shizuka grinned before taking the seat her brother had left vacant by the shogi board. "I don't even know all their names, just Gin. The racoon elders asked me to train the babies and well, it just fit with the training for today."

"Convenient."

"You have no idea." Shizuka smirked up at the man before she started resetting the board. "How about a game?"

"Eh, why not?"

* * *

Fortunately for Shizuka, the next day was proving to be quite calm. After going through her morning routine, she had a quiet breakfast with her father before they walked together to their respective offices.

She spent the day sorting through information and compiling it into a single scroll for her superiors to read over later. She was about to head out to grab something to eat when a toad appeared at her door.

"Are you Nara Shizuka?" The brown toad asked as it peered up at her confused face. "Master Jiraiya asked me to let you know that he has arrived and that he'll meet you at this time and place tomorrow."

Shizuka bent down to grab the little slip of paper the summon was offering her. She murmured her thanks and the toad who then disappeared in a puff of smoke drawing barely drawing the attention of the people at their desks.

Reaching up to stretch her arms above her head Shizuka let out a content sigh as she released the growing tension in her shoulders. With a sweeping glance over the people working she waved at a Nara that worked with scrolls acquired during missions and busts before heading out of the building.

As soon as the sunlight hits her face Shizuka closed her eyes to bask in its warmth. Around her, the village was bustling as usual, and the young kunoichi took pleasure in simply admiring the superficially peaceful image it painted.

She stopped at a dumpling place and ordered a few different stuffings as she scanned the village for who she wanted to find.

It was surprisingly easy to find this particular Sannin who was making no effort of actually hiding his presence. However, the location she found him was in fact surprising.

' _Hot springs? You've got to be kidding me…'_ Shizuka ran a hand down her face before making a U-turn on the street and searching for a different signature instead. _'He's clearly unoccupied. Let's change that.'_

The second person was ridiculously easy to find, both by the frankly ridiculous amount of chakra as well as his colourful clothing and the ruckus he was making.

"Oi, Naruto-kun!" Shizuka waved cheerily at the boy as he dragged himself out of the river. "Ebisu-San, how have you been?"

"Shizuka-Nee! How do you know Closet-Pev?" Naruto smiled brightly at her before narrowing his eyes at the man who was still standing on the railing of the bridge.

Shizuka blinked at the nickname the blond had given the Tokujō before giving the man a look.

"Closet-Perv?"

"It's nothing!" Ebisu defended before glancing to the Genin twisting the water out of his jacket. "I'm well, thank you. Is there anything you need?"

"Yeah, Kakashi asked for my help too, so I'm here to introduce Naruto to someone who will be training him."

"Another teacher?"

"Yeah, Jiraiya."

"Ah." Ebisu pushed his glasses up his nose before giving an appraising glance at Naruto. "You sure that's a good idea?"

"You already have your hands full with Konohamaru, so consider this a blessing."

"Oh, I never thought it was anything but that." Ebisu smirked before nodding at the girl. "Have a good day, Shizuka. Naruto, good luck."

"Bye, Closet-Perv!" Naruto waved cheerily before being dragged away by Shizuka when she saw the vein popping on Ebisu's temple.

Shizuka waved goodbye over her shoulder before tugging Naruto along on the way to the hot springs.

"Eh, Shizuka-Nee, not that I'm not happy to see you, but why did you come looking for me?"

"I've told Kakashi I'd introduce you to someone who would train you for the next month."

"But wasn't that what Closet-Perv was going to do?"

"Naruto, Ebisu is a phenomenal teacher, you shouldn't undermine him by calling him that." Shizuka sighed but she still felt her lips twitch in amusement, Genma will really enjoy hearing about it. "In any case, this guy he's a very powerful shinobi. One of the best, actually."

Naruto's eyes widened and he did a fist pump in happiness.

"Yes! I knew I would get a better teacher than Teme! And I get to train with you too!" Naruto opened his mouth to continue but paused to look up at her with wide eyes. "You are going to train with me too, aren't you?"

Shizuka laughed and gave his head a pat, a fond smile on her face.

"I'll drop by whenever I can, but I'm also training Shika as well as Sasuke."

Naruto scowled but it melted away when she gave his head another pat.

"How do you know this super powerful shinobi?"

"I've never met him, but we have friends in common and we've worked together by sharing information." Shizuka removed her hand from his head and tucked it into her pocket, her eyes focused ahead of them.

"Then how do you know where he is?"

Shizuka glanced down at him briefly and tilted her head as she thought of how she would explain this. She knew Naruto wasn't stupid, maybe a bit slow on theory but he has proved to be a quick learner in practice.

"I'm a sensor, remember that mission I ran into you guys? I was tracking those shinobi through their chakra."

"How does that work?"

"Well, everyone has a different chakra signature, and sensors, like myself, are able to identify and track people from miles away because of it."

"Oh, cool! Can you teach me how to do it?"

"I can one day, but it isn't going to be very useful for the exams." Shizuka watched as the boy frowned before sighing. "Alright, I suppose I can give you a few pointers to start off, but it's something you will have to practice in your own time. And while its a tool every shinobi should have, only a few can truly get to the very deep stuff."

"Yes!"

Shizuka looked around the street picking out some examples before tugging Naruto to the side of the street so that they wouldn't block the path for the others going about their day.

"Alright, lesson one: what to look for." Shizuka focused her chakra on her hand, allowing it to become slightly visible. "Can you feel the energy coming from that?"

"Hm, well I can see it."

"It's not about seeing, but feeling. Here, close your eyes." Shizuka watched patiently as Naruto tilted his head in confusion before doing as she said. "Can you tell where my hand is?"

"Right in front of me." Naruto replied after a few minutes.

Shizuka moved the hand behind her back.

"You moved it away."

"It's behind my back now." Shizuka confirmed before stretching her right arm completely to the side. "And now?"

"Over…" Naruto trailed off, a frown on his face as he scrunched up his eyebrows in concentration. "Over there!"

Shizuka grinned as he pointed at her hand, before cutting off the supply and switching hands.

"Wait, it's gone… No, over there! You… changed hands?" Naruto opened his eyes to see Shizuka's grin. "I did it?"

"Well done!" Shizuka offered him her palm to high-five and he grinned at her praise. "Come on, you still have some training to do."

"It was hard, there was a lot going on around us and it was fuzzy, not very defined."

Shizuka hummed thoughtfully as she listened to his description of the experience. She wasn't very surprised that the 'image' was slightly distorted. Sensors used their own chakra to map out the area around them, Naruto's was slightly unstable and that would definitely influence how he would perceive the chakra around him.

"It'll develop with time. From knowing what to look for you can start categorizing what you feel." Shizuka explained drawing the boy's attention back to her. "Civilians have less chakra and it lacks total control as well as feeling _stuck_ like it's just there without a purpose. Shinobi have better control and larger stores."

Naruto nodded along with her explanation before asking her to describe the different things she's felt along with her career. Shizuka answered them and patiently explained the theory whenever he seemed uncertain about something.

Eventually, they reached the hot springs drawing a confused sound from the Uzumaki.

"Why are we here? I thought we were going to find my new sensei?"

Shizuka hummed as she scanned the area, easily noticing the shinobi by the wooden wall hiding the indoor spring.

The women's side.

With an annoyed huff, Shizuka marched over to the man and poked at his shoulder.

"Oi, you better stop that."

The large white-haired man glared over his shoulder at her before he noticed it was a woman. His eyes widened comically as he started waving his hands to placate her when he noticed the vein popping at her temple.

"I-It's not what it looks like, I swear."

"Oh really, and what is it that you're doing then?" Shizuka drawled as she placed her hands on her hips as she stared the man down.

"I-I'm looking-" He stuttered momentarily before he paused when the girl's eyes narrowed on him. "I'm doing research…"

Shizuka clicked her tongue and glared at the man before slapping his arm.

"Ow!" The man jumped not expecting the lightning chakra release upon contact with his bicep. "Feisty."

"Jiraiya-sama, please tell me you haven't been foisting your reports onto me because you were too _busy_ doing _inappropriate research._ " Shizuka poked his shoulder releasing small shocks to emphasise her words.

"My reports?" Jiraiya's eyes widened again before he scanned the girl in front of him carefully. "You're Nara Shizuka."

"I would say it's an honour to finally meet you, but I'm a little too annoyed for that."

Jiraiya stood and glanced around, making sure no one had caught their little argument before grasping the kunoichi's arm and tugging her to the side, away from the wall and towards the outdoor pools.

"Didn't you get my message to meet _tomorrow_?"

"Well, actually-"

"Oi! Where are you taking to Shizuka-Nee, pervert?" Naruto walked up to him, his eyes narrowed as he glared at the Sannin.

"Naruto-kun, meet Jiraiya." Shizuka ruffled the blond's hair as a fond smile took over her expression before she smirked over to Jiraiya, allowing him to see the mischievous glee in her eye. "Jiraiya, meet your student for the month, Uzumaki Naruto!"

"What?!" Both males turned to look incredulously at her, their mouths open as they gaped at her.

"You see, Jiraiya here owes me a favour and Naruto is in need of a sensei to prepare for the last round of the Chūnin exams!" Shizuka clapped her hands as she grinned at them. "Besides, I'd rather get our meeting over with as I have a rather tight schedule this month."

Jiraiya narrows his eyes before observing Naruto.

"Why does the Perv need to be the one to train me?" Naruto pouted as he crossed his arms, glaring at the older man.

"Who says I have time to train the kid?"

"I do." Shizuka glared at the older man, daring him to deny her before turning to Naruto. "Unfortunately, he's one of the best."

Both men huffed and looking away from each other. Rolling her eyes at their childishness, Shizuka cleared her throat drawing their attention.

"How about this, if Naruto can master water walking by the end of the day, you have to teach him. If not, he goes back to training with Ebisu."

The men share a look before nodding in agreement. Huffing in annoyance Shizuka looks around before gesturing for them to follow her.

Leading them back through the village in search of an ideal place to teach Naruto how to walk on water without being disturbed. The two men were silent as they followed behind her and she ignored the huffs of annoyance when they seemed to catch each other staring.

"Oi! Pervert, stop looking at Shizuka-Nee."

Shizuka turned on her heel to glare at the white-haired man.

"Seriously?"

"You're a pretty girl even if a bit on the small size." Jiraiya yelped as she was suddenly in front of him jabbing at his ribs. "Again with the lightning release! Jeez, you're a fast one."

"Behave." She allowed her chakra to show on her hand, the quiet crackles of lightning sounding louder as they were on a deserted path away from the busy streets.

She turned back and continued on her way, completely missing as Naruto stuck out his tongue at the Sannin who glowered before following the angry kunoichi.

It didn't take them much longer to reach a secluded waterfall with a reasonably shallow pool of water. Checking for any nearby signatures Shizuka hummed in satisfaction before waving Naruto over to the water.

"Alright, so you've done the tree walking exercise before. Water walking is a step further. To stay balanced you have to constantly adjust the amount of chakra on the soles of your feet because of the nature of water."

Naruto hummed thoughtfully as he watched her step onto the water and take a couple of steps away from the shore.

"Alright! So all I have to do is focus chakra at my feet…" Naruto made a handsign and closed his eyes to concentrate for a moment before he took a confident step forward.

Except as soon as he put his weight on the foot he fell straight into the water. Even though it wasn't very deep by the river bed the cold water reached up to his ankles. Jumping back he frowned thoughtfully at the water as he shook his leg in hopes of drying his foot.

"Not a bad start, but you really do have to make minuscule changes to the flow of your chakra." Shizuka grinned before ruffling his hair as she passed him. "Jiraiya-San and I will be there by the shade, if you need any help, let us know."

Shizuka sighed as she leaned against a tree trunk to watch Naruto train while Jiraiya settled himself on a rock to her right, his gaze also focused on the Genin.

"Why ask for my help if you just planned on having him learn to walk on water?"

"Oh, you'll see." Shizuka hummed as she snickered when the boy sunk into the water again. "Besides, his chakra control needs work before he can learn anything else."

Jiraiya hummed thoughtfully before switching to watch the kunoichi at his side. He noticed the fond smile on her face as the boy tried to put his second foot only to completely lose balance and fall face forward into the cold water.

"You know more than you should."

"You're going to have to be more specific with that." Shizuka glanced at him from the corner of her eyes to see him narrow his eyes at her indifferent tone. "I was five when it happened. People seem to forget I met his family, they babysat me one time."

"Ah yes, I heard that didn't go down too well."

"Well, I may have caused some trouble… But I was a toddler!" The Nara defended herself her eyes darting to the water as Naruto yelled when he fell on his butt in the water. "Oi, Naruto, you're going to catch a cold if you stay in your wet clothes."

"Ah! I'll go get changed. I'll be right back, don't go anywhere!" Naruto nodded and dashed away, leaving the two of them to talk more freely.

"Yes, you detonated an unfinished explosive seal…"

"They shouldn't have let it out in the open with a kid in the house!"

"You shouldn't have been able to figure out how to activate it."

"I thought it was a puzzle. Twist chakra this way and that way and _boom!"_ Shizuka explained with a shrug her hands gesturing to add emphasis to the last word.

Jiraiya just stares at her like she had grown a second head before snorting and changing the subject.

"He looks up to you."

"He's like a little brother." Shizuka smiled softly before shaking her head and chuckling. "Recently it seems like most of the rookies are."

The Sannin hums thoughtfully before his gaze hardens and his shoulders tense.

"I heard you had an encounter with Orochimaru."

"Yeah, it's one of the reasons you were asked to come to the village now. He infiltrated the second part of the exams, he escaped but we took down one of the camps he has nearby."

"How many more do you estimate?"

"Enough that he feels confident in attacking the village." Shizuka sighs, her head dropping to rest against the rough bark of the tree behind her as she sets her gaze to the slowly drifting clouds above. "I've tried to locate the camps, but they are probably under some heavy protection seals and genjutsu. Which brings me to think, why did he let me see one of them, or was it a simple mistake?"

"What makes you think he let you find it?"

"Because it was in one of his former labs, but we can't find any of the others so it's not like they don't have the means." Shizuka paused as she thought over what they had been discussing in the meetings. "Even knowing it will happen, we're vulnerable because of the Chūnin exams and he knows it."

"You think he'll attack during the finals?" Jiraiya nodded along with the girl's explanation. "He's hoping you will make a mistake, cause chaos and panic within the ranks to facilitate his own agenda."

"Yeah, we've kept it on a need-to-know basis and while some more experienced shinobi are suspicious they will keep quiet." Shizuka turned her head to the side as she sensed Naruto approach. "Not much else I can explain without you seeing the reports. I've promised I'll drop by to help Naruto along when I can, so we can use that time to get some work done."

Jiraiya nodded just as Naruto burst into the little area, his wide blue eyes met theirs for a moment before he turned back to the water. The blond removed his jacket, shirt and pants, leaving himself only in swimming trunks.

"I'll get it right this time!" Naruto explained as he closed his eyes to focus, only to open and step onto the water.

His eyes brightened as he managed to stay on the surface for a few seconds before his feet started to slowly sink to the bottom uniformly.

"I'm getting it! Kind of…"

"Well done!" Shizuka smiled as she stood and walked over to him, making him turn to her to watch her approach, his eyes darted to her feet that stuck to the top of the water easily. "Your chakra flow isn't perfectly stable, which is why you're only sinking partially."

Jiraiya gives her a sharp look when he heard her explanation, his eyes darting to the boy's stomach staring at it while Shizuka explained what his chakra should be doing and what was happening instead. Once he was satisfied by his analysis he stood and joined them by the river bed.

"Here, let me help with that." Keeping one of his hands behind his back Jiraiya focused for a moment longer, drawing the attention of the Genin and the Tokujō to his approaching form before he slammed his hand into Naruto's stomach releasing the seal Orochimaru had placed on him.

"Oi! What was that for?!" Naruto clutched his stomach as he knelt in the shallow water, his breathing slightly accelerated and uneven as if he had just exercised for hours.

"Relax, Naruto, he just used pressure points to make it easier for your chakra to flow naturally." Shizuka offered a hand to help him up which he gladly took. "Why don't you try that again?"

The Genin narrowed his eyes on Jiraiya before he turned back to the water and focusing on guiding chakra to his feet. Taking slow steps he made three steps into the water when he started grinning.

"It's easier!"

"Then jump." Shizuka snickered as the boy gave her a confused look before doing as she said, only to fall straight into the water when he landed. "Almost there."

"But it's easier now!" He gave a look to the man beside the kunoichi before shrugging. "I'll have this perfected in no time!"

Shizuka hummed at the boy's excitement before she returned to the shade of the tree she had been leaning on previously, the Sannin settling back on the rock as they watched the boy start to run and jump on the water.

"So, will you do it?"

"He managed to learn to water walk, so yes." Jiraiya nodded before giving the girl an appraising glance. "I suppose I have an interesting month ahead of me."

"You have no idea."

* * *

The next day after her meeting with Jiraiya and the Hokage, Shizuka spent several hours handling paperwork before she had to leave for an in-village patrol. She met up with other ANBU sensors outside of the headquarters to start a detailed patrol of the village. They spent four hours doing criss-cross patterns all across the village before taking some time to check in on their individual sectors to ensure they knew the paths like the back of their hands.

It was a boring task and it was more of a training exercise for what would happen in case of the walls being breached than it was an actual patrol. Once all the members of her squad had finished their individual areas they met back up at the Hokage tower roof to check on times and discuss the protocol and any concerns they had.

As she exited the bathroom attached to her team's bunker at the ANBU base, she found Yūgao lounging on Grizzly's bunk. The purple haired woman was in her ANBU gear with the mask clipped at her belt and a bag at her feet.

"Chip! How have you been?"

"Tired." Shizuka smiled as she threw her gear into her bag to be washed later. "What brings you here?"

"Well, I met up with Kurenai a couple of days ago and we decided to have a girls day and go to the hot springs once everything calms back down."

"Who's coming?"

"The usual: Kurenai, Anko, you and me."

"That sounds amazing." Shizuka grinned as she slung the bag over her shoulder. "Are you on your way out?"

"Border patrol." Yūgao sighed as she got up from the bed.

"Ah, have fun." Shizuka rubbed her eyes as she yawned, "I'm glad I only have in village patrols for the next few weeks."

"Lucky. I gotta run, my squad is meeting soon to leave. I'll see you around, Chip." Yūgao waves at the younger girl before disappearing down the hallway.

With another yawn, Shizuka hoisted the bag further up her shoulder and started walking home at a slow pace.

On the way home, she closed her eyes to enjoy the fading sounds of the evening as people started to make their way home from their jobs. The Nara compound was empty, but she could see the lights and sense the signatures inside their houses. Judging by the mixture of smells and sounds coming from most houses the residents were either eating or cooking dinner.

In her quick scan of the compound, she did a double-take at the signature coming from the roof of her house, just above her bedroom window. With a confused tilt of her head, she jumped onto the roof to see a blanket and a picnic basket laid out.

"Gen?"

"Hey, doe." Genma looked up from the little orange book he had been reading to grin up at her. As he put the book away in his pouch he gestured to the open basket with the other. "We haven't really been out together in a while, and I know you have a busy day tomorrow so…"

"Thank you." Shizuka grinned back at him as she settled by his side after planting a kiss on his cheek. "So, what is on the menu?"

"We've got dumplings, rice balls, sushi and some fruit." Genma pulled the basket closer to him as he started taking out the little boxes of food, laying them out on the blanket.

"Sounds perfect." Shizuka's eyes brightened as Genma placed the box of dumplings straight on her lap chuckling as she immediately picked one to eat. "Hmm, this is absolutely amazing. You must thank your mother for this."

"What makes you think I didn't make it myself?" Genma teased while Shizuka just rolled her eyes at his mock offended expression. "Fine, she made the food, I just chopped the vegetables and helped pack everything."

"You'll learn." Shizuka picked another dumpling and offered it to him which he happily took. "My father should be arriving soon… And Shika is in the kitchen, probably complaining to my mother."

"I may have asked for her backup too."

Shizuka outright laughed at that and the pout Genma had on his face only made her happier.

"Then I suppose it's safe to do this." Shizuka grinned mischievously as she scooted closer to his side and kissed him deeply, her arms going around his neck as his arms went around her waist to pull her almost completely onto his lap. "Now, let's finish this food I'm hungry."

Genma slowly blinked his eyes open to see her already biting into another dumpling. He helped her twist around so that she could sit with her back against his chest as they continued eating the food around them.

"I heard from Raidō you had an _interesting_ experience during the second part of the exams."

Sighing as she chewed on a rice ball, Shizuka let her head fall back onto his shoulder as he hugged her tightly around her waist.

"Are we really going to talk about this right now?"

"I just wanted to know if there is a reason you didn't tell me you faced a Sannin and then continued to track him down while injured."

"Gen…" Shizuka groaned as she sat straighter to twist and look him in the eye. "We didn't know how many people he would have and there wasn't much time to choose the right sensor for the job. I have a job to do."

"I know. I just wish you didn't have to have a role so deep into this whole thing."

"Ah, you can join my father in his worrying, maybe that'll get you two to bond."

Genma gave her a dry look but leant down to press a kiss to her shoulder as she leant back into his chest. They stayed silent for a few moments basking in the silence of the fading evening light and watching as the stars started showing up across the sky.

"Just promise you'll be careful?"

"Promise." Shizuka turned her head to plant a kiss on his cheek only to sigh happily as he turned his own head to that their lips met instead. "And you too… If everything goes down like we expect it to, you'll be in the stadium, where there will most definitely be a lot of fighting."

"How about we change subjects and talk about our next date instead?" Genma reached over to pull the box filled with sliced fruits for them to eat. "Strawberry?"

Shizuka smiled and bit into the fruit he held in front of her mouth before relaxing back into him as they turned their gaze upwards to the twinkling stars.

"My turn to plan… How about…" Shizuka frowned as she went over a list of possible things they could do. "Oh! How about I cook something at home and a movie?"

"Hm, deal." Genma stole the grape she was about to eat and shook his head in amusement after she tried to mess it up in retaliation. "Is it wishful thinking that this can happen sometime in the next few weeks?"

"My schedule is kind of packed, but we can try." Shizuka leant forward to close the box of fruit and pushed him back so that they could lie down completely on the blanket.

They stay quiet for a few moments, Shizuka with her head resting on Genma's chest and her body pressed up against his side as their legs were stretched out. Genma was tracing patterns on her thigh as they gazed upwards.

"Shika has always enjoyed watching the clouds, but I've always been more partial to the stars." Shizuka finally broke the silence. "I was born the year the Third War started so Tō-San wasn't at home often during that time. When he was he often had meetings and duties during the day, so I tried to stay up at night to see him."

Genma stayed silent as his girlfriend talked about her childhood.

"I used to beg him to bring me outside for a little bit before he went to sleep. We'd often fall asleep and Ka-San would wake us up to head inside." Shizuka smiled as she remembered the nights she would fall asleep watching the stars with her father. "He would go out of his way to learn about the constellations so that he could tell me during those nights."

Genma hummed and then pointed at a random star in the sky. Shizuka snickered but caught on to his silent request and started pointing out random constellations and the stories associated with them.

Eventually, they let silence reign again and after several minutes of silence, Genma noticed that the kunoichi had fallen asleep. Shifting carefully he pulled her across his lap so that he could stand while carrying her. Once he was satisfied that she wasn't stirring he moved to the small ledge outside her window.

With precise movements, he opened her window that had been left unlocked and moved to enter only to be interrupted by the opening door.

"What are you doing in here?" Shikamaru called quietly as he entered his sister's bedroom after hearing the sound of the window being opened.

"Just putting your sister to bed." Genma whispered back as he entered through the window. "Didn't want to wake her. Didn't know she was such a heavy sleeper."

Shikamaru's scowl melted away and he shuffled into the room to peel back the covers so that Genma could tuck her in.

"She's not usually, only when she's at home with someone she trusts." The young Nara shrugged awkwardly as he moved out of the Tokujō's way.

Genma didn't respond immediately to the comment, but his lips twitched into a smile as he pushed a strand of hair away from the sleeping Nara's face.

"Tell her she owes me a date for our next date." Genma glanced over his shoulder at him before planting a quick kiss to Shizuka's forehead, as he approached the window he turned to look back at the Genin. "Good luck with your training."

Shikamaru huffed but nodded as he watched the man climb out the window land on the roof to collect the things left outside.

Shikamaru cast a final glance at his older sister who was breathing softly, completely oblivious to the world around her. With a sigh he left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

"She didn't wake up?" Shikaku asked quietly as he appeared in the hallway, his hands tucked into his pockets, his gaze drifting to the ceiling where they could sense Genma packing the things away. "I suppose you wouldn't approve of me going up there?"

"I can't say I know him too well, but I know he makes her happy." Shikamaru shrugged as he took the few steps necessary to reach his own room. "Besides, it's not about my approval, its _Shizuka's._ And Ka-San's."

Shikaku smiled wryly and nodded before continuing down the hall to his own bedroom.

"I suppose I've already said my piece, but you will let me know if you hear anything?"

"I have Ino as a source, so yes, you can count on that." Shikamaru grinned before he entered his room. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

* * *

Shizuka woke up the next day with Shikamaru calling her name from the door to her room.

"Five more minutes." Shizuka groaned as she turned to her other side, curling into her sheets grasping at the peaceful feeling of a good night's rest.

"Father already gave you an extra hour. You missed breakfast." Shikamaru snickered as he moved into his sister's bedroom to pull open the curtains. "My team is already here for training."

"Are you actually asking me to get a move on to start training?" Shizuka peeked an eye open to watch as her brother crossed his arms and glared down at her. "Wow, I never thought I'd see this day come."

Shikamaru remained silent and his sister didn't budge other than closing her eyes again.

"Something is going on. That kid from Sand, something is off about him and you and father are busier than usual. Inoichi-Oji is too, even if Ino hasn't really picked up on it."

This made Shizuka open her eyes and sit up to observe as her brother shifted over to her dresser, easily pulling out her standard training outfit of leggings and a shirt with the Nara symbol on the back.

"So, if something has you all worried and I imagine it's above my clearance, then the least I can do is be physically prepared." Shikamaru threw the outfit at her and walked to the door. "I'll convince Asuma to have you do the drills as well if you aren't downstairs in five."

"You'd make a good drill Sergeant. Father will be happy to know he has a successor in you for Jōnin Commander." Shizuka snickered as her brother glared over his shoulder.

"Four." Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and his sister jumped up and disappearing behind the door to her closet to get whatever else she needed. "Besides, that position is all yours."

"No way, you can keep it." Shizuka dashed passed him and into the bathroom to change as he walked downstairs to meet his team.

Minutes after his team moved to the backyard to start warming up Shizuka appeared in her training gear.

"Good morning." She waved over at the Genin who were moving onto laps around the house before settling at Asuma's side as the man enjoyed a cup of tea provided by her mother.

"Good morning, Shizuka." Asuma nudged the tray with the teapot and cups towards her. "Shikamaru seems determined this morning."

"He's caught on to the tensions." Shizuka shrugged as she poured herself some tea as she sat crossed leg on the porch. "At least he's motivated, it'll be a good push for him."

"And to think other Chūnin or even Jōnin haven't really noticed." Asuma shook his head as he watched the tree leaves shaking in the wind.

"It's been hard to keep the balance between increasing security within reason for an international event while also ensuring full protection in case of an attack." Shizuka shrugged sipping her tea slowly. "Shika's more sensitive to this sort of thing than most, but he also knows why secrecy is needed."

"Let's just hope they aren't thrown into the deep end without information."

Shizuka and Asuma shared a sombre look before they stood and called out for the Genin to start the training for the day.

* * *

That evening Shizuka packed her bags to head out to meet Kakashi and Sasuke at the abandoned ANBU post. She glared at the bag she would be taking with her with extra supplies Kakashi had requested.

She had talked with the Hokage to give her a day and a half off every week so that she could go out to meet the Copy Nin and his student. Under the pretence of meeting a contact from the Spectrum it wasn't hard to coordinate the cover story and she _would_ be returning with information from the Spectrum, only it would be brought to her via racoon.

She had only been to this specific post once as it had been flooded in the early days of her days with the ANBU, but she still knew the path like the back of her hand.

The post was covered by some high-grade seals, both of chakra concealments and dormant Genjutsu, however, if one knew the keys and what to look for it became easier to locate.

Shizuka sighed as she dismantled another heavy trap set up and signalled Kakashi of her approach. She jumped down from the tree next to the cliff above the river quickly finding the correct point in the stone to reach the entrance of the cave.

Sure enough, she found the crack in the stone and quickly made her way inside, keeping chakra at her feet as to not step into the water covering the ground.

"Ah, you're early." Kakashi appeared from one of the rooms and Sasuke poked his head out from another one. "It's a good thing you missed the rain."

"How are things in here?"

"Wet." Sasuke grumbled as he nodded his greeting at her.

"I brought more rations. Which room is mine?"

"First room to the left, I'd recommend a top bunk, they're the only ones completely dry." Kakashi reached for the bag she brought along and pulling out the ration bars and other things she had brought. "Akimichi grade, I knew there was a reason I kept you around."

He dodged the rapidly thrown kunai and chuckled as he moved into the small pantry to store everything properly. Sasuke rolled his eyes and joined him while they waited for Shizuka to put her clothes in her room.

The base was clearly abandoned, with the ankle deep water running through the majority of the rooms inside. Each of the three rooms had two sets of bunk beds a sink and a desk, similar to their ANBU headquarters bunks, except smaller. There were also only two complete bathrooms for all three rooms. These were thankfully dry due to the drain on the floor. Other than that, there was a pantry, a sitting area with a larger table pushed to the side with a map and the emergency exit, which was sealed off until it was required.

Once she was satisfied that her bed was in a decent enough condition, she moved to the small pantry to sit on the counter, snickering as she watched Sasuke scowl down at the water on the floor.

"I see someone learned to water walk in the last few days." Shizuka chuckled and rummaged around for a pack of dried berries and nuts, offering some to Jun, her summon that had been stationed at the base with Kakashi and Sasuke as a method of communication. "Jun, you should wait for the rain to pass before going to collect the information packet from my contact."

"Hai, Shizuka-Chan, I'll be resting until then." Jun grabbed another handful from the offered packet before heading to Shizuka's bunk.

"What's the plan for today and tomorrow?"

"Mornings are conditioning and afternoon is ninjutsu, every other day a task for the evening changes." The Jōnin explained, his eyes drifting momentarily to the Genin before returning to a familiar orange book. "He hasn't actually done any ninjutsu training just yet. I was hoping you could help in the conditioning to accelerate his progress."

Shizuka hummed as she chewed thoughtfully on the dried berries, her eyes sending a scornful glare at the book for a moment before settling on the Genin, her head tilted to the side as she appraised him.

"He's wearing weights?" Shizuka waited for Kakashi's nod in confirmation before she clicked her tongue. "I suppose I can share some tricks, I assume you're using the standard exercises."

Sasuke glanced between the two more experienced shinobi in suspicion as a flash of amusement crossed the kunoichi's eyes.

"Oh, this will be _fun_!" Shizuka clapped her hands as a grin bloomed on her face. "Unfortunately, the rain means we'll have to wait until it clears up, but that just means you'll be better rested."

"I suppose that is acceptable. Sasuke, you might want to rest up, Shizuka won't be taking it easy on you." Kakashi commented, looking up from his book only as the boy grunted an acceptance to the dismissal before leaving the other two in the pantry.

Once Kakashi was sure the boy had returned to his room he put his book away as he turned to face the kunoichi.

"How are things in the village?"

"Jiraiya is going to be teaching Naruto for the next month. He's done the water walking exercise already and I'll be checking in on him when I return." Shizuka crumpled the empty packet and tossed it into a nearby bin. "Haven't seen your other Genin, but from what Ino tells me she's been at home with her parents not doing anything else."

Kakashi sighed and rubbed at his temples in exasperation. While he hadn't done anything to nudge Sakura along specifically he couldn't deny the girl was book smart and had some potential when he considered the fact she kept the boys alive while they were unconscious, even if she had help she had followed the correct protocol.

"I can try to get her to come along to my sessions with Ino, maybe their little competition can be put to use." Shizuka suggested earning a nod from Kakashi in acceptance to her plan. "As for the village, it's been quiet, nothing of note in patrol, no other hideouts have been found…"

"So the plan is still the same."

"Hai, the Jōnin with teams will be in the arena until that is cleared then you'll be sent off to wherever reinforcements are needed. The rest is protocol, only a few pieces are still on the line of final placements."

"What time are you leaving tomorrow?"

"I'm actually staying until the next morning, my patrol is only in the late afternoon leading into the night." Shizuka explained before a grin started to bloom on her face. "So, standard exercises?"

"You know, for someone who knows how hard and taxing the exercises are you sure seem excited to run the kid into the ground."

"It is because I know that I will take great pleasure in helping." Shizuka snickered, before stretching her arms above her head and sighing as he shoulders popped. "Now, since it's raining, how about we start on those lightning jutsus?"

"In a cave flooded with water?"

"I suppose I can wait. How about theories on how I could maybe learn the Chidori?" Shizuka grinned brightly at him, taking pleasure as his chakra flickered in annoyance. "Oh, Tenzō-Taichō's chakra does that when he's annoyed too!"

Kakashi stared at her before slumping and taking a scroll on lightning jutsus from his pouch.

"I used this for the initial research on the technique. Read it first before we start on theories." Kakashi launched the scroll at her head and settled back onto the counter he was sitting on.

Shizuka scowled at him but didn't complain as she took notice of the few notes attached to several parts of the text with Kakashi's messy yet incredibly consistent handwriting. She glanced up at him but found that he was already nose-deep into the Icha Icha book he always carried around.

With a huff, she fell back into her reading, allowing the silence to settle between them, the sound of Kakashi turning pages oddly relaxing in the gloomy atmosphere of the flooded base.

' _Maybe this won't be that bad a month after all…'_ Shizuka hid her smile as she ducked her head down, allowing her hair to cover up her expression.

* * *

The day after her return she spent her morning in her office sorting through a pile of information she had received. Around lunchtime, she decided it was time to check in on Naruto and his training with the Toad Sage.

She found them in one of the furthest training grounds, Naruto working net to a shallow stream and Jiraiya sitting with his back to the Genin staring into a bush.

"Why does Naruto look like he fought for hours?" Shizuka landed silently next to the sannin, looking over his shoulder as he looked through some bushes.

' _He's peeping even here?'_ With a barely restrained flare of anger, Shizuka reached over and pinched the back of the man's shoulder, a small discharge of lighting making him shudder.

"Ouch! You really are a mean one."

"Shut up, pervert." Shizuka waited for him to turn before she pointed towards the Genin who was observing them quietly. "What's up with that?"

"He's learning the summoning technique."

"With barely any chakra?" Shizuka tilted her head in confusion before she turned back to Naruto her gaze filling with understanding. "Ah, the red chakra."

Jiraiya hummed and gave the floor next to him a pat so that she would join him while they watched the boy.

"Oi, Shizuka-Nee! Don't you have a summoning contract? Do you have any advice?"

"Hai, the racoons." Shizuka smiled fondly as she thought back to when Kouta had been teaching her team to summon their promotion presents. "The amount of chakra you use will indicate the size or power of the summon, it also helps to visualize what you want to summon."

"Very true, you have signed it, you know you are summoning toads, imagine a _toad_. Not a tadpole."

"Tadpole?" Shizuka snickered before offering an apologetic smile at Naruto's pout. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun, it took me a few tries too."

With a determined nod, Naruto returned to his task while Shizuka and Jiraiya watched on from their position.

"You can recognize the red chakra."

"Again with this? I told you, I remember that night. Quite clearly too." Shizuka huffed as she leaned back on her hands, her legs crossed as she looked up at the drifting clouds. "My parents didn't want me to be known as a sensor from such an early age, especially right after the war. It gave me more freedom when I chose what I wanted to specialize in."

"Fair." Jiraiya conceded before turning his attention from the struggling Genin to her. "Just how much can you sense anyway?"

"Twenty-mile radius at once, I can push for twenty-five in one direction but I'll be blanking out all the other directions which isn't exactly ideal."

"Not to mention recoil… Hm, that's still a larger range than most. Think you can expand it?"

"I've been working on it, Hokage-sama has offered me the Nidaime's notes, though I haven't been given access to all of them."

"Jōnin clearance?"

"Yeah, I'd need the full promotion." Shizuka shrugged as the man raised his eyebrows at her nonchalant tone. "Pretty sure I've been nominated for the exams, just haven't had the time to actually accept and train for it. I bet he'll hold it over my head until I give in."

"Would it truly be so bad?"

"Yeah, I'm hoping Shika gets the promotion to Jōnin first so that Tō-San can pass off Jōnin Commander to him."

"Alright, if the promotion is out of the question, what about natural energy?"

"Oh, no thanks. _That_ would require extensive training I do _not_ have the patience or chakra to do."

"You have decent stores, more than your usual Nara, while not enough just yet-"

"That's because of my early training." Shizuka shook her head, sitting up as she gave the Sannin a warning glare. "I've come across the idea, but I can't get that amount of chakra. Besides, using natural energy would disrupt what I have now. I'd get headaches and I'm sensitive to chakra enough as it is. I'm in no way interested in learning it."

"Fine, you might not become a sage, but doesn't mean you can't _feel_ natural chakra." Jiraiya pushed his eyes drifting to Naruto who was glaring at the tadpole he had most recently summoned. "You don't have the stores to keep it and use it, doesn't mean you can't learn to sense it."

"What would I even use that ability for?"

"You're the one who was trying to sense through shadows. You can figure it out without me."

Shizuka narrowed her eyes on the smug look on his face before she huffed and moved over to Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, how about we go eat some ramen? I can get you started on the next part of sensing."

"You're teaching the brat to sense?"

"It's a surprisingly good way to help with chakra control when you can feel what you are manipulating."

"Not a bad theory." Jiraiya hummed before he stood too, brushing off the dirt from his pants. "Alright, kid, meet me here after lunch so that you can continue your training."

Naruto grumbled his goodbye as he followed along with the kunoichi, their pace slow as they moved away from the training grounds and further into the heart of Konoha.

"Shizuka-Nee, what is your team like? I've never even seen you with them."

"Team 4, well, I graduated eight years ago. The boys, Kaito and Masaru are both Jōnin." Shizuka smiled fondly glancing down at the boy at her side. "We train together sometimes, but we have lunch as often as we can as well."

"How long did you stay as Genin?"

"Two years, although we were given the option a year into our training. Kaito and I passed on our first try, Masa only passed six months later."

"Do you think my team will be like that?" The boy's gaze was stuck at his feet as they walked along the streets.

"I think your team still has a lot to learn, from others and yourselves." Shizuka nudged his shoulder to bring his attention to her. "I didn't get along with the boys at first either, I was two years younger than them and we butted heads often."

"How did you become such good friends?"

"We talked. We learnt to see things from each other's perspective, in that we learnt we had things in common and we started to rely on each other." Shizuka glanced up as they sat in the ramen booth to smile at the cook and his daughter. "I'm sure your team will find your stride soon. Now, what would you recommend I get?"

Naruto grinned brightly and went off on listing his favourite options as well as their pros and cons. Shizuka listened intently as she followed his rapid-fire suggestions before agreeing to let him pick a bowl for her.

For the rest of lunch, Shizuka told him stories of her team and listened to the stories of early days team seven and their adventures.

* * *

Two days later Shizuka had the opportunity to join her brother and their father for training after a boring day of compiling information. Shizuka let out a laugh as she watched Shikamaru trying to fend off their father's shadows and failing miserably, a single strand wrapping around his ankle and tripping him.

"You shouldn't be laughing, Shizuka. As I remember it you took several months to get a good enough grasp on how to deflect my shadows." Shikaku raised his eyebrow as she approached making her wrinkle her nose as she remembered the many sessions she spent trying to master the exercise.

"At least I got a high-level jutsu out of it." The girl muttered earning a huff from both her brother and father. "Why am I joining in on this again?"

"Because you wanted to develop the shadow sensing and since I'd rather you have supervision while you mess around with high-level jutsus you might as well participate."

"Wow, eighteen and still needs to be supervised." Shikamaru teased earning a glare from his sister and a snicker from their father who had moved so that he stood an equal distance from both his children. "How is this going to happen?"

"You and your sister against me." Shikaku smirked as his daughter immediately narrowed her eyes on him. "Ready? Go!"

Shizuka jumped to stand beside her brother, immediately kneeling on the ground as Shika activated his shadow.

"He's planning something, isn't he?" Shikamaru grumbled under his breath as his sister huffed a laugh.

"What gave it away?" Her words dripped of sarcasm her eyes scanning the backyard and the surrounding trees. "He told me to bring my tantōs so he probably has his katana sealed."

Shikaku tilted his head in amusement as he watched his children toss comments back and forth on what he could possibly be planning.

"We can't exactly use the normal methods of approach, considering he knows all of them _and_ their proper counters."

"So this can really only go one way…" Shizuka stood from her crouched position and stepped into her brother's shadow. "Ready, otouto?"

At her brother's determined nod, Shizuka launched towards Shikaku, tantōs appearing in her hand before she made half the distance. Her father's katana appeared in a flourish, his own shadows coiling at his feet, keeping Shikamaru's from making contact.

Knowing her brother wouldn't be able to keep their father's shadows from capturing her for much longer, she spun out of the way of a blow and rushed through the handsigns to use the shadow cast by the katana to connect.

Except their father knew all too well what she was planning and substituted himself with a nearby log before he sunk into the ground.

"Underground." Shizuka called, her shadow piercing into the soft ground, mentally sighing that she would need to pay to get that fixed herself. "Time to see if your speed training has been any use."

Shikamaru waited patiently for their father to make a move, his senses on alert to any movement from him. Although he was far from proficient, he had a decent grasp on sensing chakra for a Genin. If his father or sister truly wanted to disappear he had no doubt he would be left in the dark as to their location, but neither were concealing their chakra to that point.

While he waited for his father's attack, he focused on breathing and observing the area around him. He had released the shadows already, knowing he couldn't keep them activated for long if their father was going to play the long game, but he remained still, his muscles bunched and ready to leap away at the first sign of an attack.

It didn't take much longer for his father's signature to melt further into the ground, his sister's narrowed eyes as she tracked his movement underground was enough of a warning that the spar was truly about to start.

Despite the fact that their father had taken up a desk job that rarely required him to leave the village he was clearly still a formidable opponent. The moment he broke out of the ground, he had launched forward, shadow tendrils and katana swinging at his side.

Shikamaru made a mental note to thank the baby racoons for their help in dodge training because he quickly tucked and rolled under the swipes, his sister's shadows launching across the small distance from her feet to block their father's shadows from capturing him. With fast steps he retreated to his sister's side, catching the offered tantō and spinning around to parry their father's blow before he had made it the full distance.

As his father brought the blade down, Shikamaru was pushed back by the force. Shizuka darted around him and with a few quick swipes had their father leaning away from the tantō blade.

They continued trading blows, with Shizuka calling out his attention towards any shadow tendrils their father somehow had the time to conjure, with the siblings alternating who had to defend and push back against the shadows.

The spar continued for a good while, with wind, earth and a few fireballs appearing occasionally to buy time to retreat and regroup or defend. Shikamaru was the first to show signs of slowing down, barely half an hour into the spar he was covered in sweat and panting. Shizuka then stepped up and retrieved a katana of her own after she lost the tantō she had been wielding.

With Shikamaru playing mid-range support, Shizuka took more opportunities to attack her father, he had a smirk playing at his lips when she grew frustrated that she still hadn't managed to land a decent strike to him.

That didn't mean Shikaku wouldn't be feeling it the next morning. Shizuka may not have actually drawn blood, but she has definitely left a few bruises since she landed elbows, kicks and the heel of her palm all across his torso and back as she spun around his blows.

Shizuka had the advantage of flexibility and speed, making her a hard target to strike, but with a longer weapon and some unfamiliar tricks, Shikaku managed to leave a few scratches on her. One of which was on her brand new leggings, which she made sure to point out how _troublesome_ it was that she would have to buy a brand new pair so soon after ruining the last pair.

An hour into the spar and Shizuka was finally feeling her muscles protest at having to keep swinging the katana to parry another heavy strike at her shoulder.

With a quick glance back at her brother who stood a few steps behind to her right, she sighed and gave him an appraising look.

"Think you can manage one final, barrage?" Shizuka gave him a dry smile, offering her katana while gesturing for her tantō back. "I'll need a shorter blade for this one."

The siblings exchanged the weapons while their father looked on in amusement as they slowly gripped the handles of each and slowly shifted their stances to suit the new weapon.

The next series of events happened in mere seconds.

Shikamaru used the shadows to pull as many tendrils as he could at his level of chakra, launching all of them in the same direction at the same speed.

Shikaku realised Shikamaru wasn't trying to surround him since all the tendrils were coming from a single direction instead of spreading out and thus were likely a diversion tactic. What he didn't expect is that as he activated his own shadows to block Shikamaru's, that the boy would release the jutsu completely.

In the fraction of a second that it took for Shikaku to notice his son's shadows disappearing, he noticed his daughter run through a set of slightly familiar handsigns.

Before he could deactivate his own shadow, his daughter melted into her shadow and disappeared from view, only to appear in _his_ shadow.

With a wry smirk, Shikaku deactivated his shadow and flew through a set of handsigns as his daughter approached him, her tantō poised to strike at his shoulder.

" _ **Fūton: Heavenly Wind Palm"**_ Shikaku thrust an open palm at her, a gust of air from the jutsu landing squarely in her stomach, sending her back towards Shikamaru.

"Damnit!" Shizuka huffed as she came to a halt, her eyes drifting to where she heard her mother snickering. "Ka-San it's not funny!"

"A Jōnin and you can't even dodge your father's only wind jutsu, and his weakest jutsu too!" Yoshino raised her eyebrows, almost daring her to protest.

"Not a Jōnin…" Shizuka grumbled as she moved to collect the tantō she had lost during the spar. "Since when does Tō-San know a wind jutsu anyway?"

"It's the only one I know, and it took me months to get it right." The clan head smirked as his daughter glared at him. "You would've had me if I didn't know you had that trick in your arsenal."

"Now, would you three do me a favour and go get cleaned up. Dinner will be ready soon." Yoshino ignored her daughter's mumbling and gestured around the yard. "You can all deal with this tomorrow."

"Alright." Shizuka and Shikamaru answered, the two sharing a look before rushing inside, each planting a kiss on their mother's cheek as they raced towards the bathroom.

"They almost had you." Yoshino smirked at her husband who approached after collecting his katana from the grass. "You're losing your touch."

"I still have some tricks up my sleeve." Shikaku shrugged, his hands brushing over the blade slowly. "You heard about Inoichi's indication?"

"Akira wouldn't stop gushing about how we should throw a surprise party." Yoshino smiled knowingly at him. "Did you find what you were looking for in the attic?"

"Hai, I'm taking them to the blacksmith tomorrow." Shikaku gave her a crooked smile. "How long do you think it'll take her to figure it out?"

"Knowing how distracted she'll be over the next month, probably only when someone tells her." Yoshino snickered as he leaned in for a kiss, only to be kept away by her hands on his shoulder. " _You_ need a shower too."

Shikaku grumbled as his wife gave his cheek a final pat before returning to the kitchen to finish preparing the dinner.

The clan head smiled fondly as he heard his children upstairs arguing over who gets to use their shared bathroom first, and the clinking of pots and smell of food from the kitchen. With a shake of his head, he moved to his bedroom, moving past Shikamaru's slumped form in the hallway and Shizuka's humming in the shower.

' _Some things never change.'_

* * *

Shizuka glanced back as Ino made another geyser of water in the middle of the little pond in her backyard. As the blond worked on her water control, Shizuka worked through a series of katas Kakashi had recommended for her tantō.

"Shizuka-Nee, once I have the pressure of a single geyser down, what is the next step?" Ino turned to look at her, barely faltering in her step as the water of the pond ripples violently.

"Well, you should try controlling two next first at the same intensity and then different. It'll be a week until we have another of these sessions, so try to get as many as you can in that time. Next week we can start practising the water bullet and hidden in the mist." Shizuka glanced at the sun and sighed as it already seemed to be close to lunch time. "Come over here, we can take a break before a quick spar."

Ino walked over and they sat on the cushions on the porch where Ino's mother had left a pitcher of lemonade and some snacks.

"How have you been, Shizuka-Nee? I feel like we've barely seen each other outside of training."

"I've been busy, I was selected to be an aide to the visiting shinobi and delegations." Shizuka sighed as she pouted, making Ino giggle at the silly expression. "It's so _troublesome_."

"Well, do you at least get to hang out with your boyfriend?" The Yamanaka's eyes twinkled in mischief as the older girl shook her head.

"Not as much as I'd like." Shizuka smiled and turned so that she faced the younger girl fully. "He surprised me with a picnic on my roof the other day, it was cute. We're both busy so our next date is after the exams are over."

"Oh! What's the plan?"

"I'll be cooking something at his house and we'll plan it so that we don't have an early shift the next day."

"I'll help you hide him from Shikaku-Oji and Shikamaru."

"Thank you." Shizuka winked before she turned to look at the calm backyard. "You know, you could invite Sakura-chan to these too, right?"

Ino gave her a curious look but stayed silent, her eyes also falling onto the little pond, her fingers absentmindedly coming to brush through her shorter hair.

"You two put aside your differences to better yourselves as kunoichis, but Sakura hasn't been doing much training, her team is completely separated right now." Shizuka explained, glancing through the corner of her eyes at the blonde. "You could invite her to join us for some of these training sessions, she has a good head on her shoulder, I'm sure you could both learn from each other."

"You've been on a mission with her." Ino remembered her lips twisting into a frown. "It would be good to have someone at my level to grow alongside."

"She doesn't have to be here for all of our training sessions, but I'm sure she'd like the chance to be your close friend again." Shizuka smiled as Ino nodded. "Now, how about that spar?"

Ino grinned and reached over to the small weapons pouch that rested on the porch, opening it to show Shizuka the contents.

"Ah! You went for the senbon afterall." Shizuka grinned as she pulled out a few of the needles. "I'll get you a scroll on starting off with poisons, you shouldn't struggle too much with ingredients and your parents both know a thing or two about it too."

"Thank you!" Ino attached the senbon pouch around her hips as a belt before moving to the grassy area of the yard and facing Shizuka. "Shall we?"

Shizuka grinned and unsheathed her tantō before moving to face Ino, falling into her usual stance while the Genin pulled out a few senbon between her fingers.

"Let's see how good your aim has gotten." Shizuka called before giving her opponent a nod to start.

* * *

Four days before the final round of the Chūnin exams, Shizuka found herself on her fourth visit to Kakashi and Sasuke. Her patrol the day before had gone late and thus she only arrived in the hideout late at night, heading straight for her bunk to get some rest.

She woke up that morning with Jun uncurling from her side and stretching, his cold nose nudging into her cheek.

"Shizuka-chan, time to get started. I'll go pick up the information packet."

Groaning she reached with her hand to scratch her summon behind his ears. And swung her legs over the side of the bunk bed quickly dropping down to the wet floor.

"Thank you, Jun. Today is swap day for you and Kakashi's summon, right?"

"Hai, I believe its the last rotation too." Jun nodded before jumping onto the ground and moving out into the corridor. "Have a good morning."

"You too." Shizuka answered between a yawn.

Stretching her arms over her head she unsealed her usual training outfit and went to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Once she was ready she walked into the kitchen to find Sasuke eating breakfast and Kakashi with an empty bowl in front of him.

"Good morning. You got in late." Kakashi didn't even glance up from his book as she walked in, but Sasuke sent her a side look.

"Yeah, sorry, Jiji-Senpai." Shizuka snorted as Sasuke rolled his eyes at her and Kakashi glanced her way momentarily before returning to her reading. "Jun is out, you'll have to summon one of your ninken for the next four days."

Shizuka scooped the last portion of the rice one of them had made into a bowl and sat directly opposite Sasuke.

"What have I missed?"

"Gaara showed up." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her.

"I'm aware. He's a sensor and has been tracking you since you left." Shizuka shrugged turning her eyes to Kakashi. "Nothing has changed in the village."

"We'll talk more about it late. Finish your breakfast while Sasuke starts to warm up." Kakashi turns to Sasuke who just grumbled and left the kitchen. "You finished the other two jutsus so I've found a third one to keep you busy."

"Ah, thanks." Shizuka reached for the offered scroll and opened it to read while she ate. "Anything else I need to know?"

"Not really." Kakashi paused to observe the Nara before shaking his head. "If you learn that one before the end of today, I'll think about your earlier request."

Shizuka snapped her head up and gave him a bright grin which he ignored before he left the room with a pointed gesture towards the dishes in the sink.

Normally she would complain at being left with the dishes, but she was too excited to make a comment. With efficient movements she washed and dried the dishes, placing them neatly in the rack beside the sink.

She then went outside to see Sasuke running laps while Kakahi read his book in the shade, neither males gave any indication that they saw her arrive, but she'd gotten used to their ways by now.

For the next hour Shizuka read the scroll for the new lightning jutsu and then she started to mould her chakra into her palm.

"Kakashi-Senpai, do you have any training dummies?" Shizuka gave hima cheerful grin after launching an underpowered discharge at him, only to have him use the substitution jutsu and appear on a random tree branch.

The man barely looked away from his book as he threw a scroll at her face, which she caught with a snort.

"Thanks!" Opening the scroll she unsealed a couple of dummies and spread them around her in a circle.

Pausing to observe their locations she tried the handsigns again, this time aiming the discharge at the dummies, only managing to hit one on each side.

Humming as she observed the damage she left, she went through the required handsigns before closing her eyes and focusing on a single palm, opening her hazel eyes as she heard the crackling of lightning.

Pushing the chakra out of her hand, she watched as a streak of lightning was discharged, one thick branch of lightning shooting straight at the closest dummy, while a couple of smaller ones branched off but dispersed without hitting anything.

Once she released the jutsu, instead of trying again she sat down in the middle of the circle of dummies and pulled the scroll back out.

"Are you seriously stopping after one incomplete run of the jutsu?" Sasuke scowled as he approached, slowly turning to inspect a few of the dummies.

"Sasuke, you might one to step back." Kakashi appeared at his student's side a hand at his shoulder as he watched Shizuka close her eyes and breathe deeply. "Out of the circle, you don't want to be caught in the middle of this."

Sasuke shrugged him off and gave the kunoichi's form a dubious look before stepping back out of the circle and watching as the girl remained still for a few moments.

"You done yet, tiny?" The copy-nin asked after a full minute of silence.

Shizuka turned to glare at him before standing up and brushing the dirt off of her pants. With a sigh, she turned to look at the dummies around her before sending the two men a smirk over her shoulders.

Without a sound, the Nara ran through the handsigns and pushed a fair amount of her chakra into the jutsu before thrusting her palms out at each of her sides. The silent field was once again filled with the crackling of lightning that was discharged from her palms.

The streaks of light bounced from each of the ten dummies in a few seconds. As the sound died down, she turned in a circle to observe the damage, a satisfied smirk dancing on her lips as she turned to the men after.

"You owe me some new dummies." Kakashi deadpanned as he stepped closer to one of the dummies, absentmindedly prodding at the gap left in the dummy's chest area. "Did you have to show off?"

"Just proving a point." Shizuka answered cheerfully, as she picked up the scroll and closed it neatly before offering it to the Jōnin. "Do I get to at least see what notes you have on the Chidori?"

"There aren't any." Kakashi gave her an unimpressed look when she smiled sweetly at him. "I'll write what I can for you to look at. Though we won't have time for that today."

"I'll take what I can get." Shizuka shrugged before turning to Sasuke. "Is this enough destruction for you?"

"Hn." Sasuke shrugged before walking back to his side of the field.

"Your turn to deal with that." Kakashi gave her head a pat as he moved to collect the destroyed dummies. "I'll go grab something to eat after."

Shizuka waved him off as she walked back towards the Uchiha kid.

"What information do you have on the people who made it to the next round?" Sasuke asked as he looked at the rock he had been using as a target for the Chidori.

"What makes you think I'd tell you anything?"

"You're an infiltration specialist, gathering information is what you do. Sharing that information with allies is also part of your duty."

"Oh, you're an ally now? And what duty do I have to you?" Shizuka couldn't help herself from baiting the boy, her expression blank as he turned to her, his eyes narrowed on her.

"You helped when I was younger and you continue to do so now."

"Kakashi made an irresistible offer."

"Bullshit." He spat, his eyes turning to his bandaged hands. "You know something and whatever it is no one else has any idea."

She stayed silent as he paused his gaze morphing into a glare.

"Your position means you can control that information and whatever it is _I deserve to know_."

"I know a lot of things others don't, what makes you so sure you're entitled to whatever information you think I have?"

"Because of _him._ Because you don't see me, you see a token. Just like everyone else." For a moment Shizuka couldn't help but compare the image of the bitter boy in front of her to his older brother.

"Alright, _kid_ , listen up. One, newsflash we are all tokens. Until you make yourself something different that's all you will ever be." Shizuka allowed her blank expression to twist into an amused smile. "Two, there is a very good reason no one knows what I do and I intend to keep it that way."

Shizuka paused allowing him to mull over her words, he hadn't taken his eyes from her and he didn't seem any less aggravated than before, but it seemed he really was considering her words, so she couldn't complain.

"You have a lot to learn still." Shizuka sighed and shook her head. "I'm heading back in, Kakashi is on food duty and you on dishes. Don't be late."

* * *

The last night patrol she would be a part of before the final round of the Chūnin exams was almost a relief as she had been run ragged in all the activities she was involved in.

Patrols were on high alert and were running longer than usual, ANBU was slightly low on numbers because they were being sent out to compensate for the higher number of regular forces in the village.

Her training with Shikamaru had definitely taken a turn once he had built a solid improvement in the speed department. Between her and Asuma he seemed to have taken a liking to two shorter blades rather than a single katana like their father, but he was learning to deal with both as it really couldn't hurt to learn how to wield both. They started sparring more often with Shizuka trying to use mostly what she could gather from Temari's style as she could.

For the rest of team ten, their training kept going at a decent pace, although it wasn't as intense as her training with her brother. She had successfully convinced Ino to ask Sakura to join their training and the pink haired girl while slightly behind was compensating for her quick grasp on water ninjutsu, which Shizuka was glad for.

Her training with Sasuke was probably the most intense day she had as Kakashi would often make her join in on the conditioning training before making them spar. On the other hand, she did get three new high-rank lightning jutsus, which eventually helped her convince Kakashi to work with her on a way to make Chidori more accessible to non-dojutsu users.

She had to admit that training alongside the two Sharingan users was a good workout. Sasuke was frustrated that he couldn't beat her and Kakashi would let them both tired out before having them change exercises, allowing them both to work in conditions where they were exhausted.

Naruto spent three weeks unable to summon anything larger than a frog sized tadpole, much to her and Jiraiya's amusement and the boy's displeasure. She had returned yesterday from training with Kakashi and Sasuke to find Jiraiya leaving Naruto at the hospital after completely exhausting himself after summoning Gamabunta, the chief toad. Jiraiya then left the village much to her exasperation because he had to investigate something related to the snake sannin.

In the end, she didn't have the chance to cook for Genma for their indoor date, but she had promised that as the chaos of the exam was gone they could take a night off and enjoy each other's company. The couple did manage to steal a few moments of peace between their shifts and took every opportunity to at least leave a note for each other when they knew their schedules would keep them apart.

She was distracted from her musings as a flare of chakra came from a few blocks to the side of her area.

' _Shit. Is that Hayate?'_ Mentally going through a string of curses, she increased her speed and launched towards the confrontation, her senses quickly searching out for the closest patrol. _'Where are they? Damnit, of course they are on the other side of the village.'_

With a mental note to request an extra patrol to fill in the gap left at this hour, Shizuka finally caught sight of the conflict.

Running through the required handsigns, she thanked Kami it was dark and the street was full of shadows for her to use.

As Hayate stumbled back from a blow from a katana from his opponent a wall of shadows rose from his feet, blocking what would probably be a death blow to the man's chest.

Landing just behind her comrade to catch him as he fell, she launched tendrils of shadows to capture the enemy but ended up only grasping at air as the man disappeared.

"Hayate, stay awake." Helping the man keep the pressure on his chest Shizuka gave him a quick pinch on his shoulder.

"Chip, it was the-" breaking into a fit of coughs Shizuka cursed before looking around.

"Alright, save your energy." Shizuka pulled on of the man's arms around her shoulder and wrapped her other arm around his waist to help him stay balanced and keep the pressure on the slash. "Hold on."

She launched off the roof, silently thankful that Hayate was awake enough to help her carry him. While the man wasn't the tallest of their friends, she wasn't ever the one carrying her comrades for long stretches.

She landed at the emergency entrance of the hospital just as Hayate's eyes started shutting. The medics and nurses around her started to run around in alarm at their bloodied forms and immediately helped her settle him onto a stretcher.

Just as he was about to be wheeled past the door for the treatment rooms, his eyes cracked open and connected with hers.

"Sand Jōnin. Card guy."

Before Shizuka could properly process what he said the doors closed behind him, leaving Shizuka standing in the corridor alone.

' _Sand Jōnin, which one? Dammit, I should have paid closer attention... '_ Shizuka rubbed her hand over her mask and left the hospital in a shunshin, appearing on a nearby roof. _'Card guy, that's Kabuto. Sand and Orochimaru?'_

She spun around and proceeded towards the Hokage residence, this was a matter for the Hokage.

Signalling the ANBU guards, she went through the security process and was quickly allowed into an office-like room that was usually for emergency debriefs when the Hokage happened to be at the compound.

"Chipmunk, I've been informed there was an issue." The Sandaime appeared wearing his usual white robe, despite the clear evidence that he had just been woken up.

"Hai. Gekkō Hayate was attacked during his mission by a Suna Jōnin, he is in the hospital being treated." Shizuka kept her head down and remained in her kneeling position as she continued her report. "I couldn't visually identify which Jōnin as he retreated immediately after I interfered once Hayate had been injured, but I'd guess Baki. Hayate also mentioned the presence of Yakushi Kabuto, although it seems that he disappeared before I could sense him at all."

"This is troubling." The Sandaime gestured for her to rise and moved to the window to look out the silent streets below. "If Kabuto is under Orochimaru's influence and thus connected to Sound, with him meeting with Sand it means we must assume they are allied."

Shizuka stayed silent as she observed the Hokage mull over the information for a few moments before he turned back to her.

"I will write a note informing Jackal and your father, the third exams start in two days but we'll make changes to the rotation." He moved to the desk at the other end of the room, pulling out a scroll and a brush. "We, unfortunately, can't make a move against the Sand Jōnin, we're too close to the finals and the Daimyō is arriving in the afternoon."

"I can fill in Hayate's rotation on Baki's watch, who will be the proctor if Hayate is injured?"

"Shiranui Genma is the one who will be assuming the duties during the exams. I'll have Jackal confirm your rotation in Hayate's place, but considering your involvement in everything else, you might share it with others."

"Hai." Shizuka gave the man a swift bow at her waist and shifted her weight between her legs, casting the door a quick glance.

"Go, check in with your friend. Then go home to rest, you're scheduled to greet the Daimyō, correct?"

"Hai, ANBU escort." Shizuka sighed as she scratched the back of her head. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"Take care. And thank you."

With that dismissal, Shizuka disappeared down the corridor easily locating the hidden hallway leading to ANBU headquarters. As soon as she was in her bunk she swapped the bone white vest of the ANBU for the green Chūnin vest from her trunk. She glanced in the mirror and made sure to wipe away any blood from her hands and face, sealing her mask into a scroll before running out of the room.

It took her a few minutes to reach the hospital, but she went straight to the waiting room where she easily spotted her boyfriend.

"Gen!" Shizuka rushed into the waiting room, her typical braid falling apart as she hadn't had time to fix it properly. "Any news?"

"Not yet." Genma stopped his pacing as she came close and pulled her into his chest, tuking her head under his chin. "Yūgao was allowed in to see him, but only one at a time for now. Were you-?"

"Yeah, I'll tell you what I can later but-"

"Thank you." He whispered against her forehead before placing a kiss to her temple. "Yūgao will want to hear it as well."

They stayed that way for a few moments, before Shizuka moved them towards the plastic chairs, sitting so that she could rest her head on his shoulder as they continued to hold hands, waiting for news on their friend.

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments!**

 **Kellaayyee**

Very high praise! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying the story so much! I hope to continue doing so! :D

 **xXSakuraBlossomsXx**

It's good to be back! Thank you!

 **nickarn22**

First animal that came to mind, so yeah. Took a bit of a creative license for that one.

 **Nella-mangalover93**

Hey! It's good to hear from you again!

Hahaha well between her and Daichi and even his teammates I imagine he did get a lot of practice. Ah, Kakashi and Shizuka's bantering is getting fun to write xD Poor Genma needs to start meditating to deal with the stress… He's in for quite a ride. Shizuka and Jiraiya spymaster duo adventures xD Hopefully more to come on that front.

Thanks for the comment! Hope this chapter had what you were hoping for!

 **Leannn**

Hellooo! Hahahaha that was one of the first lines I had written for this chapter. That scene has been written since basically chapter 5-6…

I'm happy to be back! More fluff once things (finally) settle down again!

Thanks for the comment!

 **Candice**

Hey! Hahaha twice in a row now XD

Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it! Yes, poor Shikaku will have an interesting couple of years coming…

 **knetterzak**

Hello! Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying the story so far :D Hope you liked the chapter and that you'll enjoy what's coming up ahead as well.

 **Whitney1995**

Welcome back! Well I hope this chapter made up for that :P A lot of social interactions as we wait for the finals. It'll come up soon XD Will depend on how many chapters of trying to get everything back in order before things can settle again. Adult life sucks XD Thanks for the comment! Always happy to hear your thoughts :D

 **Thanks for the comments!**

 **xx**


	38. Protect

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **I was rewatching the episodes with the finals and the scene with the older Ino-Shika-Chō made me laugh XD My dad had a similar conversation with his friends once and its always been a joke in the family. I wasn't planning on adding it in, but I couldn't resist!**

 **I also didn't change the actual fights but added some commentary between them, the changes are only more evident after Sasuke's fight.**

 **Thanks! And I hope you enjoy!**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 38 - Protect**

The night before the final rounds found Shizuka lazily walking through the village towards the Nara compound after having spent the two days between patrols, guard duty and intel. She hadn't been home since before Hayate's attack, having crashed in her ANBU bunk during any breaks she had during the day.

The afternoon after the attack was filled with escorting the Damiyō's party to their accommodations and then guard duty through the night before a handful of meeting early the next morning.

Now, two days after she had last been home, she was almost giddy at the idea of her own room and food that wasn't ration bars or a plain fruit.

Her feet dragged on the dirt path as her dark hazel eyes drooped slightly. Taking a deep breath in she shifted her gaze to the darkening sky, some stars just starting to make their appearance.

"Shizuka-Nee." Shikamaru's voice sounded in the oddly quiet street.

"Otouto, where are you going?" Shizuka gave him a tired smile as she glanced past him where she could just make out the gates to the compound. "I thought you'd want to go to bed extra early to compensate for the activity tomorrow."

"Tō-San went out with Inoichi-Oji and Chōza-Oji, Ka-San asked me to get him."

"Babysitting him, are you?" Shizuka chuckled and shook her head pausing in her step to allow her brother to reach her side. "Need some help?"

"Please."

Shizuka's lips twitched upwards briefly at the look on her brother's face and after sending the compound one last longing look, she turned around to walk back towards the centre of the village. The younger Nara fell into step with her, trusting that she would do the work of locating their objective, his hands in his pockets as his head tilted back to look at the sky.

"You haven't been home in days. Everything alright?"

"Yeah, just busy. How about you? Do you feel ready for tomorrow?"

"It'll be a drag, but I know what I have to do."

Shizuka smirked and gave his shoulder a nudge but didn't ask for him to elaborate. The pair continued in silence, weaving through the bustling village that seemed to be lively with excitement for the big event the following day.

The siblings shared a look when they heard the booming laughter of the Akimichi clan head coming from a restaurant bar ahead of them. With a shrug, Shizuka approached the opening flap only to overhear their father's conversation.

"... I understand. Daughters are a real drag." Shikaku's slightly slurred words drifted over to them, making Shikamaru snort as Shizuka narrowed her eyes at the entrance, making no move to go inside.

"Yeah, sometimes I have no idea how to deal with her." Inoichi answered, his tone revealing the amount of drink they had consumed.

"I know what you mean, we have it rough." The statement was followed by a sigh from their father, but before he could continue Chōza mumbled something else.

"Come on, we've stalled enough." Shikamaru brushed past her to enter the establishment.

"Ah, Shikamaru! And Shizuka! Come join us!" Chōza greeted jovially as he spotted them.

"Tō-San, can we go home now?" Shikamaru grunted as he stopped next to their seats at the bar, his eyes sweeping around the room taking note of the number of civilians and the lack of shinobi.

"Don't be a drag! Enjoy the festivities!" Shikaku lifted his cup and tilted it to them in a toast before downing the cup.

"I have to compete tomorrow." Shikamaru deadpanned his eyes narrowed on Inoichi as he refilled Shikaku's cup. "I shouldn't have to babysit you. Shizuka, you do it."

"Can't believe you're in it." Shikaku gave Shikamaru an assessing glance before reaching for his filled cup.

Shizuka facepalmed and stepped around her brother to stare down at their father, amusement shining in her eyes as she looked over the Ino-Shika-Chō trio.

"As much fun as seeing Tō-San drunk is… Are those dumplings?" Shizuka trailed off as Chōza slid the plate towards her as she sat on the seat next to her father, a pair of chopsticks appearing out of thin air in her hand.

"Shizuka… " Shikamaru groaned, bringing his sister's attention to him. Upon seeing her wide-eyed gaze as she chewed one of the dumplings he slumped and shook his head before walking to sit to Chōza's other side. "Fine, but please, enough drinking."

"You heard the younglings! Another plate of dumplings, please!" Chōza laughed as he waved down a staff member.

* * *

The next morning Shizuka woke up early and helped her mother with breakfast before waking up her brother and ushering him to the kitchen.

If he was surprised to see their father in full uniform with the deer vest as well as his arm guards he didn't comment. As he helped their father with the dishes, Yoshino and Shizuka went upstairs to get ready for the day.

Shikamaru did give them a pointed look as Shizuka appeared in the standard uniform, which she rarely used, with arm guards as well as a second weapons pouch on her non-dominant side. And while neither could see under their mother's clothes, Shizuka knew she was wearing a mesh shirt under the long-sleeved dress she decided on.

The family made their way out, waving at some of their clansmen who were also on their way to the arena or simply on their way to start their day as normal.

Shikamaru broke away from the group as he proceeded to the check-in point for the contestants while the remaining three walked in through the audience doors.

Inside Shikaku and Yoshino sat together on the block to the left while Shizuka joined the rookies that weren't competing on the block to the right. As the arena filled the Jōnin senseis appeared, sitting a few rows in front of where Shizuka was.

Ino and Sakura were sitting in the row directly in front of her. Sakura in her usual gear while Ino was wearing a casual shirt with the Yamanaka symbol and pants.

' _At least she has her new senbon pouch on her.'_ Shizuka smiled at the two girls as she made herself comfortable, her gaze sweeping over the arena floor. _'Gen looks so bored down there.'_

Ino must've caught her looking at her boyfriend because she sent a smug look over her shoulder to the older kunoichi who simply sent her a wink in response.

"Where is everyone? It's about to start!" Ino mumbled as she twisted herself to look back at the arena. "Sasuke-kun, Naruto and the Sound guy are all missing."

Shizuka tilted her head as she considered the question, an amused smirk tugging at her lips as she sensed an incoming stampede with a sunny chakra signature leading the charge.

"Don't worry about Sasuke, Kakashi is probably responsible for that. He has a lousy timing but he wouldn't jeopardize his students." Shizuka gave the girl a shrug at her doubtful look. "Sound guy backed out and Naruto… Well, you'll see in a second."

"What do you mean?"

As the words left Ino's mouth an orange blob came in flying into the arena through the competitor's entrance. As the dust settled Naruto's body could be seen skidding to a stop behind the line of the Chūnin hopefuls.

"Naruto made it!" Sakura cheered as she realised her teammate had been the one to cause the commotion.

"Yeah but he's late! And what's with the entrance? That idiot…"

Shizuka watched as Shikamaru helped him up before facepalming at something the hyperactive blond said.

"I wonder what excuse he'll give, let's just hope it isn't one of Sensei's stupid ones."

"Like a stampede of bulls was chasing him?" Shizuka didn't take her eyes from the competitors watching as Naruto fell into line with them and missed the baffled expressions from the young kunoichi in front of her.

The girls didn't know how to reply to that and instead shifted so that they faced the arena as the competitors shifted so that they were in a line behind Genma, each standing straight as they looked up towards the Kage's box.

"What happened to the other proctor?" Ino whispered, her eyes narrowing in on Genma, her eyes darting back to Shizuka with a suspicious glint in her eyes. "What happened to the coughing guy? Why is your boyfriend here instead? And when will you introduce us properly?"

"Yeah, he's taken over as proctor for Hayate who's unavailable." Shizuka nodded her thoughts drifting towards the injured Jōnin for a moment before she shook her head to focus. "He'll be at the next barbeque that we're both in the village for."

"Oh, it's starting." Sakura whispered her eyes downcast as she observed the contestants walk out of the ground area except for Naruto and Neji who faced each other.

The crowd cheered, a slew of names across the audience as they made their bets on who would win.

However, down in the arena, no one moved.

The two contestants continued to stare each other down even as the crowd became quiet.

For a few tense moments, nothing happened.

And then Naruto attacked.

"Naruto, you idiot! A frontal attack will never work!" Sakura yelled, leaning her body forward, her eyes narrowed on her teammate as he tried, in vain, to hit the Hyūga.

' _Maybe I should've helped him a bit more with strategy.'_ Shizuka tried not to facepalm as the boy was sent skidding back clutching his shoulder, leaving Neji standing impeccably without a single fleck of dust on his person.

"I was just checking you out! Now we can really start! _**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**_!" Naruto yelled, five clones of his appearing next to him.

From around her, she could hear the shinobi murmuring their appreciation for the Jōnin level technique. Even the two Genin in front of her, that probably had no idea just how impressive the move was, were smirking at Naruto's newfound enthusiasm.

Shizuka was pleasantly surprised at how well coordinated the clones' attacks were. Against a regular opponent, the plan of overwhelming them with the sheer number and attacks coming from every direction might just provide him with a knockout blow.

But it wasn't enough against the Hyūga.

With grudging respect, Shizuka had to admit that Neji was talented. The boy flawlessly worked his way through all the clones without even breaking a sweat, effortlessly blocking and counter-attacking anything Naruto tried.

As Neji started to speak, Shizuka let out a sigh, knowing that no matter what Neji said, Naruto would never back down. Even if she didn't count the last month she spent checking in on him, she knew from the other Genin and all the other times she'd seen the blonde around the village that he just wouldn't quit.

The Nara couldn't help but chuckle as Naruto conjured more than twenty clones to attack the other boy.

Again, she would have to give praise to Neji who not only fought off the clones attacking him but also identified one holding back out of his range. When that one proved to be a clone Ino and Sakura cheered as the real Naruto attacked once more.

"Good job, Naruto!" Sakura cheered as she stood from her seat, a smile blooming on her face.

"Naruto has improved by leaps and bounds and Neji has been too confident." Shizuka nodded along as Naruto and another clone approached Neji who seemed to be slightly surprised. "Yet Neji is the top rookie of his year, he's not going down this easy just yet."

Shizuka smiled grimly at the Genin who turned to glance at her before she nodded back down to the arena where Naruto was sent flying by Neji's rotation.

The fight seemed to fall into a lull again, as Naruto moved to sit up to look at the crater left by Neji's movement.

"What was that?" Ino gasped as she leaned forward trying to gauge the size of the crater.

"Hyūga palm rotation, a defensive technique." Shizuka commented as she leaned forward to whisper the information to the Genin, her eyes carefully examining the older boy. _'If what I know about that technique is true, then he learned it by observation. He's a genius.'_

"Can his eyes see which Naruto was the original?" Sakura asked, her eyes still trained on her teammate and his opponent that continued to trade some words.

"No, shadow clones are solid and have the users chakra equally distributed amongst them, meaning there is no visible difference to the byakugan." Shizuka explained, her eyes scanning the audience for a moment before continuing. "Elemental clones can be identified by sensors, but shadow clones are different. Which makes me curious to see if I can find a way around that…"

"Shizuka-Nee…" Ino sighed before chuckling. "Something for later. For now, look: they are moving again."

They watched in fascination as Naruto launched a few more waves of clones towards Neji from every direction and failing every single time to land a single blow on the older boy's body.

When Neji finally launched his attack, using the Hyūga Sixty-Four Palm Strike it sent Naruto soaring for what felt like the hundredth time that day, Shizuka was almost hoping the boy would stay down.

She hadn't trained with anyone of the Hyūga clan other than Hyūga Tokuma, but even then, she'd only trained with Tokuma once or twice and all in the capacity of training as a sensor and tracking.

As the daughter of a clan head, Shizuka had read several scrolls on her clan's knowledge of other clans both within and outside the village. It was supposed to help her in her future duties and although some of them had been interesting, there were too many clans to keep track of and often she wondered if certain parts of the knowledge would ever be useful.

From what she read about the Hyūga, their special attacks on the chakra points could _hurt_. She had read descriptions of the feeling but couldn't relate it to anything she had felt and so she turned to Tokuma for answers, after all, who better than someone from the actual source. He had answered her questions with an amused shake of the head even if he probably held back on the aspects of the technique that were supposed to be secrets.

As Shizuka focused back on the fight happening below, she watched Genma approach the fallen Genin, only for the boy seemed to stumble back onto his feet drawing gasps from the audience as he swayed on his feet.

"He doesn't know when to quit." Ino murmured, her eyebrows were pinched in the middle as she frowned, but Shizuka could hear the admiration in her tone.

"That's what makes him Naruto." Sakura agreed, her hands balled into fists on her lap as she anxiously awaited the match to continue.

The older kunoichi observed the pink-haired Genin as Naruto launched into a rant about Neji's attitude. When Neji replied with the story of how his father was killed Shizuka closed her eyes.

She remembered the arrival of the Cloud shinobi in the village. She had been around eight years old and had been standing with some academy students and senseis as they passed by the street on the way to the Hokage tower.

The arena stayed silent as they digested the information and as Naruto adjusted his stance to stay standing.

As Neji went on about the cursed seal of the Hyūga, Shizuka couldn't help but grimace at the irony of him saying that to Naruto of all people.

' _Naruto's proving that his will is stronger than anyone's in the whole village.' Shizuka_ focused on the blonde as he reminded Neji of his conviction that destiny wasn't all that simple to understand.

"He can't keep going like this!"

Shizuka ignored the whispers from around them as she focused on Naruto's form, his eyes closed and hands clasped in a ram seal.

' _Is that?!'_ Shizuka leaned forward her eyes widened as the boy's chakra stirred. She faintly heard Ino calling her name in question but she shook her head and kept her undivided attention on the fight below.

Even without looking away from the scene below she could see the uneasy shift in a few shinobi who could sense what was happening. From the amount of chakra stirring, it probably wouldn't matter how good a sensor you were, the sheer intensity of it would draw attention.

She didn't have time to get too caught up in the feel of the chakra as the two Genin launched into what Shizuka predicted to be a final round of fighting.

The next few minutes were filled with shuriken, kunai blows and the two contestants flying at each other at impressive speeds.

As Naruto pushed Neji to use the rotation once more the connection between the chakra expelled by the rotation and Naruto's chakra cloak caused an explosion of light and debris that sent both opponents into the ground.

"Which one is Naruto?" Sakura asked as her eyes moved between the craters left by each of the boys, a cloud of dust obscuring the view of the two fighters.

Shizuka didn't have time to answer as Neji stumbled out of one and moved towards the other where you could just start to make out Naruto's prone form.

"I can't believe it's ov-"

"Wait." Shizuka interrupted Ino as she leaned forward. "Naruto truly is something else."

Ino sent her a questioning look, but her attention was drawn back to the arena when the audience let out a collective gasp.

From the ground between Neji's feet, Naruto burst upwards to land a solid punch to the Hyūga's chin, sending the older boy onto his back.

"Now it's over." Even from where she stood she could see Genma's impressed expression with his eyebrows raised high as the Hyūga seemed unable to stand back up.

"He dug his way into the ground and left a clone as a decoy!" Sakura gasped a small smile taking over her expression once more. "He never lost faith…"

"His strong will is one of his greatest strengths, we can all learn from him in that regard." Shizuka murmured at the same time as Genma called the match in Naruto's favour sending the crowd into an uproar.

The crowd applauded as Naruto grinned brightly and waved at them for a few minutes while cheerfully running a lap around the arena.

She couldn't see her brother but she could almost hear her brother complain about what this victory meant for the future of the competition.

From the front row a few seats to the side of Ino and Sakura she could hear Asuma and Kurenai murmur in appreciation of the good show.

As Naruto disappeared into the tunnel and Neji was carried away on a stretcher the crowd's energy took a turn. As the applause and murmurs of Naruto's victory faded the anticipation of the next match grew. It was, after all, the one people were most excited for that day.

"What's going on?" Ino asked as she looked around to the yelling spectators that were calling for the next match to start.

' _Kakashi-Senpai is really pushing it with this one…'_ Shizuka sighed as she looked around, cataloguing the position of every shinobi she could identify, her comrades, allies and the foreigners. _'Suna is getting shifty. What will the decision be?'_

She shifted her gaze to the location where she could sense the Sand Jōnin, Baki, and how his chakra seemed to waver for a moment in uncertainty. She was drawn away from her investigation as Raidō appeared next to Genma to relay a message.

"Listen, every one, one of the competitors of the next match hasn't arrived yet, so it will be postponed. We will move on to the next match instead." Genma's voice sounded throughout the arena, drawing complaints from the crowd which didn't seem to affect the Tokujō at all as he turned to the competitor's box. "Aburame Shino and Kankurō, please proceed to the arena floor."

"Proctor! I withdraw!" Kankurō's voice echoed back from somewhere along the wall just seconds after Genma finished.

A moment of confused silence followed the statement before the crowd once again voiced their displeasure, a growing chorus of booing filling the stands.

' _Well, if we didn't have any suspicions before this definitely would have brought it up.'_ Shizuka grit her teeth as her eyes swept the stands again, pausing to meet her father's eyes before moving to the Kage box and back down to the arena floor.

"In that case, due to Kankurō's forfeit, Aburame Shino wins by default." Genma sighed, the senbon in his mouth clinking softly against his teeth. "Moving on to the next match, Nara Shikamaru and Temari please proceed to the arena floor."

As soon as the words left his mouth, a gust of wind surged through the arena and the Suna kunoichi appeared floating down on the breeze while kneeling on the massive fan she carried.

Shizuka cast her gaze to where she could sense her brother's chakra in a small room cut into the wall of the arena where all the competitors stayed before their matches.

To her, it seemed like a lifetime ago when she had been in that same room waiting for her own fight to start. She held in a chuckle as she heard Naruto's exclamations of good luck to her brother followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground below.

"Did Naruto just push Shika off the balcony?" Ino's incredulous tone only made Shizuka snicker harder.

"Someone had to make him move." She commented with a smirk as she watched as her brother made no move to stand up from his position sprawled at the base of the wall.

She shared a look with Ino as they sweatdropped when people started throwing trash and booing his lack of movement as well as the angry comments from the Suna kunoichi.

Amongst the yells of the crowd, Shizuka could pick out Naruto's yell for Shikamaru to fight just as the Sand kunoichi charged at her brother.

She saw her brother tilt his head back to watch the approaching kunoichi as Genma protested her movement by saying he hadn't started the match.

The kunoichi swung her closed fan in a downward arc raising a cloud of dust from the speed of the attack but it didn't take more than a few seconds to dissipate.

Once again setting her eyes on the opponents, Shizuka took note of the cracks on the ground from where the fan impacted the dirt as well as her brother leaning on the wall.

She saw her brother's mouth move as he said something to his opponent but didn't hear anything over the sound of the people around her, she could however, guess the gist of it since seconds later the Suna kunoichi swung her fan straight at the younger Nara.

"Since when is Shikamaru that fast?" Sakura's eyebrows were high on her forehead as she glanced between the Yamanaka at her side and the older kunoichi behind her.

"Shizuka-Nee has been putting in extra help on that front." Ino grinned, her eyes shining with a mischievous twinkle. "You haven't done much more than the basic conditioning but Shizuka-Nee will introduce you to the speed training routine soon."

Sakura sent her a wary glance but Shizuka grinned cheerfully at them before she looked to the side and waved over the approaching figure.

"Chōji-kun there's a seat here!" Shizuka smiled happily as the Akimichi heir walked over in his usual clothes with a bag full of food.

He settled the bag of food in front of him as he sat in the seat next to Shizuka giving Ino and Sakura a cheery smile in greeting.

"Thank you, Shizuka-Nee! Here, have some chips." The boy offered her the bag he was eating from and she happily accepted, planting a kiss on his cheek and snickering when he blushed. "Wasn't it supposed to be Sasuke's match now?"

Ino hissed at him but the damage was done and Sakura sunk into herself.

"Hey, Sakura, don't worry. Kakashi-Senpai is the one at fault here, don't worry." Shizuka reached over to squeeze her shoulder before leaning back into her seat and looking up at the floating clouds above.

' _Why do I always end up as a babysitter for the rookies?'_ Shizuka sighed as the three Genin talked amongst themselves as they waited for either contestant below to make a move. _'The clouds are nice and fluffy today, Shika is probably so annoyed that he has to fight and can't watch them all day.'_

Shizuka didn't watch the clouds for more than a few moments before her attention was drawn back to the competition.

" _ **Fūton: Kamaitachi no Jutsu"**_ _(Wind Release: Sickle Weasel)_

The following gust of wind swept through the arena forcing several people to raise their arms to cover their face from the harsh wind. It also forced another cloud of dust to rise, partly obscuring the area around her brother.

From the cloud of dust, a single tendril of shadow lashed out, heading straight for Temari's feet, but the kunoichi overcame her quick surprise and launched backwards until the shadow reached its limit.

As Shikamaru released the technique and the shadow retreated, the kunoichi drew a line on the ground marking the end of Shikamaru's range.

"Now I get it. You manipulate the shadow you are in, stretching it out to capture your opponent, but there's a limit."

"You got me." Shikamaru's dry tone brought a smile to Shizuka's lips.

"Temari is a long-range fighter, Shika is at a disadvantage." Ino commented as she bounced her knee impatiently.

"Ah, Shika knows what he's doing, he just needs to get the right pieces in position." Shizuka commented before chuckling as her brother remained crouched with his back to the wall, his hands coming together in his 'thinking pose'.

"There he goes with that habit of his." Ino groaned as she shook her head.

"Habit?" Sakura asked with her eyes darting to look at Ino before focusing back below as if she were scared to look away for a split second and miss the action.

"Shika does that thing with his hands when he's thinking, his best strategies happen after those moments. Just you wait, this battle is about to get interesting."

"Wait, Shikamaru is the laziest person I know. His scores were terrible and you're telling me he's going to win this?"

"He dislikes putting an effort into anything but he's by no means stupid. His IQ tests are off the charts, he's on genius levels."

"Big surprise considering his family." Ino teased before she huffed and crossed her arms. "He better make this interesting, Naruto's fight was better than this."

"We're about to find out." Shizuka grinned just as Shikamaru opened his eyes prompting Temari to create another massive gust of wind.

"Go, Shikamaru!" Ino cheered before slumping and turning to Shizuka. "He can't even get near her, what the hell is he going to do?"

"He's giving up." Chōji answered between handfuls of chips. "Too much effort for him."

Shizuka hummed in consideration, her eyes darting to Chōji as he offered her the bag of chips he had just opened.

"No! No way, he can't give up!" Ino growled before her eyes narrowed on her teammate in the arena, her voice rising so that he would get her message. "Don't you dare give up, Shikamaru! I'll kick your ass!"

Her voice was drowned out by the howling wind gust Temari created in another attempt to push Shikamaru out of his spot against the wall.

"Again?! Can't she do anything else?" Ino grumbled only to let out an explosive sigh as a shadow tendril appeared once again from Shikamaru's direction. "Seriously? What's he-"

The audience gasped as Shikamaru's shadow passed the previous mark on the ground by a decent amount.

"All that wasted time was just for you to wait for the sun to sink lower in the sky and increase the shadow!"

"Well done, Shika!" Ino cheered as the excited rumbled in excitement. "He can just wait for the sun to lower and eventually most of the area will be within range, right?"

"Not exactly. The more shadows the larger our range, but the thinner the tendril and the further it goes, the harder it is to control. Each person also has a natural limit based on chakra and how much we can extend use them." Shizuka explained her voice dropping into a whisper. "If he plays his cards right and saves his energy, then yes, the longer the match better for him."

"I feel a but coming up." Chōji shuffled so that he could dig around the bag of food for the next packet he wanted to eat.

"Two things: one his endurance isn't the best yet, but you just graduated so that is to be somewhat expected." Shizuka explained her eyes darting between the three Genin that had turned their attention to her. "And second, while waiting _does_ seem like something Shika would do it's not what he is planning."

The Genin gave her questioning looks and waited for her to explain.

"The longer a fight the more variables, the more opportunities for either side, if you don't have the endurance it is a dangerous path to take. So, he'll force the opportunity early on, to catch her off guard so that he can take the advantage." Shizuka continued softly before she pointed at the arena, the Genin following her line of sight.

"Huh?" Ino took a few moments to focus on what Shizuka was pointing at. "Is that his vest?"

Shizuka nodded, a smile tugging at her lips at the make-shift parachute Shikamaru had made.

"That will extend his range! Now Temari as to worry about the sun and the parachute!" Sakura gasped, her eyes blown wide as she leant forward in her seat.

"Hai. A good show of resourcefulness, but I must admit Temari is a very good strategist herself. She's fast on her feet and learns quickly, a valuable skill in battle."

Before Ino could ask anything else movement from below caught her attention.

Temari had lodged her fan into the ground in front of her as a cover for whatever she was planning. However, as soon as she started making handsigns for her next jutsu her body visibly froze, before a slight trembling started as she tried to fight the Shadow Possession.

"Shadow Possession complete." Shikamaru called as he stood from his crouched position, allowing his hands to fall to his sides, with Temari following suit.

"How?!" Temari growled, her situation suddenly becoming clear to everyone else in the arena as whispers broke out in admiration for Shikamaru's performance. "Your shadow didn't reach me!"

"Look behind you, I'll allow it." Shikamaru turned his face forcing Temari to once again mimic his movement, her eyes immediately falling to her feet and the single tendril of shadow connecting her shadow connecting it to the hole left behind from Naruto's match.

Ino and Sakura gasped as they leant forward to observe the arena while Chōji started shoving handfuls of chips into his mouth.

"I see, I never thought of the shadows underground." Temari conceded as she turned back to glare at Shikamaru.

"A common mistake." Shikamaru smirked, his head turning to the block he knew his sister was in but unable to locate her in the massive crowd.

"Hah, you did something similar in your exams." Ino snorted. "Of course you two would use the same strategy."

"He was planning this all along?" Sakura gasped as her eyes widened as she stared at Shikamaru with some new-found respect.

"Shika was maneuvering her all along to that exact position. The sun and the parachute were to make Temari focus on something else, Shika could downplay his range and use those two other factors as excuses for sudden improvements."

"Which means he was thinking so far ahead of her this whole time!" Ino grinned as she stood from her seat. "Yeah! Well done Shikamaru!"

As Ino cheered and Sakura nodded along with a smile, Chōji burned through another bag of chips, reaching for a closed one before the previous one had touched the ground.

The audience continued to murmur in excitement as the two opponents approached each other, Temari still being under the control of the Shadow Possession. Neither Genin spoke a word, though Temari was tired from struggling against her invisible bonds.

As the pair stopped a few feet from each other, Shikamaru raised his hand and the audience collectively held their breath.

"To hell with it. I give up."

Shizuka clasped her hand over her mouth as she fought the urge to double over to laugh until she cried. She could practically hear a pin drop in the crowd as everyone choked on their shock following those three simple words.

Glancing around Shizuka could see most people had their eyes wide open and slack jaws before a tidal wave of complaints and booing swept through the arena.

"He what?!"

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"Lazy idiot!"

Shizuka bit her cheek as she shared a look with Chōji who had finished his last bag of snacks.

"See, I told you he'd give up." Chōji smiled and paused, letting out a burp and patting his stomach before turning to Ino. "Seems like I know Shikamaru a little bit better than you do."

Ino's jaw dropped as she finished processing Shikamaru's words before she turned with a narrow-eyed glare to Shizuka.

"I blame you for this."

"Me?! What do I have to do with this?" Shizuka's eyes widened as she put her hands up in surrender.

"Ever since you forfeited in your exam, he's had it in his mind that he could do the same."

' _He has enough chakra to win that one, but he also knows something is happening. As always you're thinking ahead. Well done, otouto.'_ Shizuka smiled a close-eyed smile which drew a deadpan look from Sakura before they focused again on the two contestants below.

"What did you say?!" Temari gasped as she opened her eyes and immediately focusing on her opponent.

Shizuka could see Genma's shoulder shaking with a suppressed chuckle before he straightened himself up and walked closer to the Genin, his eyes focused on the Nara.

"I used up all my chakra on this last move." Shikamaru gave the blonde kunoichi a dry smirk, his voice raised so that the audience could hear what he had to say. "Shame, I had already planned out the next two hundred moves in my head."

' _He also knows winning doesn't automatically mean promotion, so making his intentions clear will buy him favour points with the people considering the promotions.'_ Shizuka sweatdropped at his words but the massive grin didn't budge from her face.

Temari's eyes were blown wide again as the implications of his words hit her, but she didn't have time to make any further comment as Shikamaru released her from the shadow possession.

"Anyway, winning here would just mean more work later." Shikamaru shrugged and Shizuka again held in her laughter as she saw Genma shake his head in exasperation before smirking.

"The winner of this match is Temari." Genma announced, bringing another round of boos and some sparse applause from the audience.

"We need to talk, you idiot!" Naruto yelled as he jumped down from the waiting room balcony towards where Shikamaru was lazily rolling his shoulders.

"It's over. Let's just forget it."

"You had that match in the bag!"

Shikamaru groaned and rubbed his eyes as Naruto continued to rant about his lack of motivation, his arms swinging wildly as he loudly voiced his complaints.

The crowd started to grow anxious, murmurs breaking out as each minute passed without a sign of Sasuke's arrival and even Naruto's voice faded as he too realised what would be happening next.

Shizuka glanced to the next block to her left, where her father and his teammates were. Even across the small distance, she could see their eyes scanning the arena. She could _feel_ their chakra stirring on edge.

' _Small groups, teams you could say, of experienced shinobi in each block of seats to better cover and defend the civilians.'_ Shizuka recalled her father explaining what would be happening.

As she waited for an announcement to be made in regards to the next match she continued counting unfamiliar signatures in the arena.

Spreading her senses she around she identified Izumo and Kotetsu sitting next to Kiba and Hinata in the block to the right of where she was, which was where her 'area' started within the arena.

The arena had eight blocks for the standard audience and the Kage box which was on top of the better seats where most of the Lords and Damiyō were sitting. Shizuka had four blocks to the left of the Kage box while Aoba had the four blocks to the right and Jackal had the box and the stands below for himself.

She knew from talking to her former teammates that Masaru was guarding the northern wall and Kouta-Sensei was supposed to be off duty and at home. Although she also knew that her sensei was in part of a small squad of five that would be waiting to be dispatched to wherever reinforcements were needed. Meanwhile, Kaito was on ANBU duty waiting for a signal to commence the third phase of the invasion protocol.

Emiko and Reiji, two of Ino's cousins were also at home, with Emiko in a squad much like Kouta's and Reiji was helping with clearing the streets with most of the Chūnin in the ranks.

She searched out for where Asuma and Kurenai were sitting in the front row almost across the block they were in. Just as she was about to continue looking around Gai and Lee showed up taking two seats in the row behind the two Jōnin.

Shizuka sighed as she gave a final sweep of the arena from where she was now, adding to the mental map she was building of the arena which she had been slowly assembling from the moment she arrived.

Knowing the value of seeing the whole picture and the positioning of any piece of importance on the board, Shizuka was hoarding every piece of information she could from observing only a person's chakra.

The standard procedure for an attack on the village was that Genin were supposed to work on evacuating the civilians in low threat areas. Chūnin were, depending on their skills, sent to the hospital, the streets or the front lines, to either heal, cover the retreat or fight respectively. Jōnin were mainly on the front lines, manning the walls, although there would be one or two held back to ensure the streets and the civilians were evacuated.

The main exception to this protocol would be the Tokujō, ANBU, medical ninja and the sensors. The Tokujō because were separated more based on speciality than skills, since these were generally shinobi with Chūnin skills in one area and Jōnin skills in the other. The ANBU had their own protocol, but they would be spread across the village as well, working alongside the regular forces even if a bit out of sight. The medical ninjas were obviously at the hospital or the few that were field approved would be moving through the city, with a team specifically to watch their backs, as they healed any that didn't have the time to make it to the hospital. Meanwhile, the sensors had the pleasure of sweeping the village to ensure no enemies were left inside the walls.

Each sensor with a designated block they had to sweep that area and if needed could request or direct a team to another area where assistance was needed as the attack went on.

Shizuka's mind trailed off as her eyes landed on the Kage box, where she could just about see the Hokage and Kazekage each with a guard at their shoulder.

Even though they expected a move against them, something was unsettling about the wait.

Shizuka tapped Ino on the shoulder bringing the girl's conversation with Sakura to halt.

"I'm going over there to talk to your senseis. If you need anything just flicker your chakra and I'll come." Shizuka tilted her head as she gave the three Genin a pointed look. "Enjoy the match, it'll be a good one."

Shizuka waited to see if they would ask a question, but they simply nodded at her, their hesitation making it clear that they caught on to her message.

As she stood she made eye contact with her father and his team who gave her subtle nods before they too turned back to the arena. She walked slowly down the large aisle between the front row and the railings, her eyes casually sweeping the arena before she settled her gaze on the rookies' senseis.

"Hello, Gai, Lee. Happy to see you guys could make it." Shizuka smiled as she sat next to Gai with Lee to his other side. "Asuma, Kurenai how have you enjoyed the matches, so far?"

"Your brother is something else." Kurenai teased bringing a snicker from Shizuka as she nodded along. "It's been quite a show."

"Hai." Asuma's cigarette bob up in down, making both women to glare at him. "What's up with the Sasuke situation?"

Shizuka was about to reply when Genma spoke up from the ground.

"The time limit has expired. I'm officially calling this match-" The Tokujō was interrupted by a flurry of leaves and wind in the middle of the arena.

Before Shizuka could turn to look at the ground fully the crowd oohed and aahed at whatever happened.

"Sorry, we're late. You wouldn't believe the traffic." Kakashi's eye smile and the calm tone were enough to bring out a loud groan from Shizuka.

"I'm never helping him again." Shizuka deadpanned as she glared down at the duo. "No matter what he offers to teach me-"

"Yeah, I don't believe you." Asuma teased as he shook his head. "You'd cave in minutes."

Kurenai and Gai chuckled as Shizuka huffed and crossed her arms.

"Kakashi is such a bad influence. First Naruto, and now Sasuke too!" Shizuka rolled her eyes. "Who thought him training three baby ninja was a good idea?"

"At least the kids have talent." Kurenai snorted as Genma called for Gaara to come down to the arena.

Shikamaru and Naruto disappeared into the tunnel to climb the stairs back up to the waiting room, while Kakashi used a shunshin to disappear from the ground only to appear in the aisle next to Shizuka.

"Hello, Gai. How are you feeling, Lee?" Kakashi scratched the back of his head as Shizuka raised her eyebrows at him. "Sorry about that, I-"

"Save it." Shizuka grumbled as she gestured over to where she had been sitting previously, pointing out Ino, Sakura and Chōji who were looking at him with curious looks.

With a sheepish wave in their direction, Kakashi walked down the stairs to gesture for Shizuka to scoot over.

"May I?"

Shizuka grumbled but did as he asked, moving closer to Gai so that Kakashi had space to sit in their row.

The Jōnin around her started asking Kakashi questions but something else drew her attention. A feeling started to build up and press against her senses, growing until it passed the point of discomfort and straight into migraine material.

"Someone is using chakra… And a lot of it." Shizuka gasped quietly, Kakashi and Gai turned slightly towards her, while Asuma and Kurenai shifted backwards in their seats to hear her whispered words while Lee only glanced out of the corner of his eye. "It's that Gaara kid…"

Squeezing her eyes shut Shizuka focused on the staircase to brave on the area charged with so much chakra that it caught her off guard. For a brief moment, her discomfort faded to the background as panic rose in her chest when she found Shikamaru and Naruto using that same staircase to return to the contestant's balcony.

She stayed quiet, completely focused on them as Gaara moved past her brother and Naruto only to appear a minute later on the ground floor.

"Shizuka." Kakashi's whisper was sharp as he called for her attention, but she only shook her head at him as she opened her eyes to see Gaara and Sasuke facing off at the centre of the arena.

Sighing as he concluded that whatever happened was over and that she wouldn't comment on it. The copy-nin straightened up and looked around their half of the arena, his eye easily falling onto the visible members of the ANBU spread around the audience.

"Only ten ANBU for this whole arena?" Kakashi sent her a questioning look. "It's not enough."

"We had to make concessions because we needed to spread across the village." Shizuka explained, her mind instinctively pulling up the names and masks of the ANBU stationed on this half of the arena. "We have a few members in standard uniform spread about too, the rest of the ANBU is spread throughout the village at key points."

"From what we've heard from the crowds no one suspects anything." Kurenai pitched in. "Some Konoha shinobi aren't aware of the full story, but none of the foreigners seem to be suspicious of the activity on our side."

"I'm surprised intelligence has managed to keep a tight lid on the whole operation." Gai commented as he kept his gaze below.

"We had to hand-select the people we brought in on the plan." Shizuka hummed as Genma finally moved to start the match. "The rest of the forces think we're either being overly cautious with the orders of medium alert or think we're running a training drill."

The Jōnin around her didn't comment as moments later the battle below started.

"For now, Kakashi, I'll be carefully watching your student to see if your training was any good." Gai grinned as he leaned forward to look past Shizuka at Kakashi. "After all, I am your rival."

"Hm? Did you say something, Gai?"

Gai deflated and slumped into his seat as Asuma, Kurenai and Shizuka shook their heads at the despairing Jōnin, grateful to the two men for their lighthearted banter.

Almost as soon as Genma jumped away from the contestants Gaara's sand started to come out of his gourd. Shizuka knew immediately something was off when the boy clutched at his head and the sand wavered for a moment before falling to the ground around him.

Sasuke seemed to take a moment to balance himself before launching two shurikens with deadly precision towards his opponent.

From the sand around the Suna Genin, a sand clone formed, blocking the projectiles before it launched a beam of sand towards Sasuke who jumped high into the air.

As he approached Gaara, he landed a kick and a punch to the clone only to get his arm caught momentarily before he twisted away, spinning around the clone to target a punch straight at the real Gaara's face.

Shizuka grinned as Sasuke continued to spin around any sand beams, not even bothering to glance at Kakashi when he snorted at her reaction. Shizukapouted and sneakily reached over to pinch the underside of his arm. The man jerked his arm away and flicked her ear in response. She would have retaliated but Kurenai turned to glare over her shoulder at them, causing both to settle into their seats with their hands clasped in their laps.

Kurenai rolled her eyes and turned back to the arena just as Shizuka's attention fell back on the wall of sand Gaara had conjured. Sasuke was about to land a punch to the solid surface but at the last moment he shuffled his feet around and with an impressive burst of speed, he moved to the stationary Genin's back.

The shinobi around her, except Kakashi, shifted in their seats in surprise as Sasuke landed a solid punch to the Gaara's cheek sending the Suna Genin flying.

From her side, she could tell Gai was impressed by Sasuke's new speed, which she knew would be close to Lee's speed without the weights. From her other side she could feel the underlying smugness Kakashi was radiating and she reached over to pinch the copy-ninja's arm again only to be swatted away.

"Weights?" Gai asked them without taking his eyes from the battle below, Shizuka answered with a hum as Lee murmured in appreciation about Sasuke's speed. "And the style?"

"He copied part of it before the first exam, Kakashi and I may have helped him fill in the gaps." Shizuka smiled bashfully as she scratched her cheek, her attention was drawn away momentarily by the use of chakra in the bleachers. "Hey, Senpai, does Ocelot know medical ninjutsu?"

"Hm? Ocelot, not that I know of. But he could have picked it up." Kakashi sent her a questioning gaze, before he searched for the ANBU in question, his gaze narrowing in on the figure before turning back to Shizuka when she shook her head.

For a few minutes, Sasuke continued to use his speed to move around Gaara's shield and land a few good blows to his sand armour.

"It's taking him a lot of stamina to keep up that speed." Lee pointed out as Sasuke stopped to take a few deep breaths.

"What did you do? To get to such speeds in a mere month…" Gai trailed off before sighing and looking to the side to observe Kakashi's reaction.

"We worked with what we had." Kakashi explained. "Lee's taijutsu is ideal at high speeds, and Sasuke had the basics copied from before the exams. For him to use it efficiently we had to increase his speed."

"So we put him through every speed drill we knew of." Shizuka continued, rolling her head to each side to stretch her neck. "Because of time constraints, we focused on quick bursts of speed and not endurance."

"But it's not enough. Kakashi, you saw what happened in the preliminaries."

The battle below fell into a standstill as Gaara created a cocoon of sand to shelter him. For a few moments, Sasuke simply observed before deciding on his next course of action.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto called out as he approached the Jōnin with Shikamaru right on his heels. "You have to stop this match!"

Shizuka glanced over her brother, double-checking that he was alright before doing the same to Naruto who was panting from having climbed all the stairs in a frantic run.

"What?" Kakashi looked over his student before casting another look down to the arena where Sasuke had activated his Sharingan.

"That guy, he's totally different! He's going to kill Sasuke!"

"Naruto, slow down, what are you talking about?" Ino asked as she approached with Sakura and Chōji, the trio coming to a stop on the steps next to the seats, attracted by the commotion caused by the panting Genin.

"He says his goal in life is to kill people!" Naruto growled as he stared at his sensei who hadn't moved from his seat.

"Don't worry, Naruto. Taijutsu and speed aren't the only things we were training." Kakashi replied as he gestured to the row where Asuma and Kurenai were sitting. "Why don't you five sit and watch the battle here, it won't take much longer now."

"What else did you train then?" Sakura asked as she settled between Ino and Chōji next to Asuma and Kurenai on the edge of the front row.

"Well, you see…"

"Enough! This is serious sensei! We don't have time to continue chatting!"

"You're right, Naruto. Now stay quiet and watch. Sasuke has it under control." Kakashi glanced over his shoulder to the Uzumaki before looking back down to his other student. "Keep your eye on Sasuke, he's about to surprise you."

Sasuke chose that moment to run up the wall of the arena directly opposite the area they were sitting in and weaving unfamiliar handsigns.

"That's-" Gai's eyes widened as the sound of chirping birds flooded the arena as Sasuke conjured visible lightning in his hand before charging down the wall.

"Speed was never the main goal." Shizuka spoke up, bringing the Genin's attention to her. "It was just something he had to improve to be able to execute Lee's taijutsu properly."

"And it just so happens that speed is also a requirement for that technique." Kakashi concluded his eyes focused as Sasuke reached the ground and charged straight at Gaara's sand shell.

"What sort of jutsu is that?" Sakura gasped as she took notice of the destruction the technique left behind.

"It's a unique type of jab." Surprisingly it was Gai who spoke up his eyes focused solely on Sasuke now. "It's the only technique in Kakashi's arsenal that he didn't copy off someone else."

"A powerful weapon to have. The secret behind it is speed along with the chakra focused at the impact point, combined at a high level you get what you see there." Shizuka filled in a smirk tugging at her lips. "The sound of the birds chirping is what gives it its name: Chidori, a thousand birds."

The Genin around them awed as Sasuke reached the sand shell, his lightning coated hand piercing the shield as if it were butter. The audience echoed the sentiment before falling into silence.

"Also known as the lightning blade." Gai added his eyes landing back on Kakashi who seemed as relaxed as ever as he watched the match silently. "It earned that nickname after Kakashi used it to split a lightning bolt before it touched the ground."

Shizuka chuckled at the varied reactions to Gai's comment, Sakura's curious glance at Kakashi, Ino's disbelief, Chōji and Naruto's awe. Most amusing to he personally was Shikamaru's, when his eyes switched between Sasuke, Kakashi before settling on her with his eyes blown wide and eyebrows raised high.

"It's a dangerous technique, that requires a large amount of chakra. It isn't one to be taught lightly." Gai's pointed comment finally drew a reaction from Kakashi, who made eye contact with the taijutsu specialist.

"Yeah, you're one to talk." Kakashi muttered with a glance past Gai's shoulder to look at Lee who hadn't looked away from the battle below.

"The disadvantage is that he has to run in a straight line, leaving him open to counter attacks. You need to have very keen instincts to be able to move out of the way at such speeds." Lee commented, gazing down at his hands and sending his crutches a downcast look. "But then again, it's perfect for Sasuke because of his Sharingan, isn't that right?"

Kakashi barely nodded in response as he waited along with the silent arena for something to happen. When the Suna Genin started screeching in pain everyone in the arena startled at the sudden yelling.

"BLOOD! IT'S MY BLOOD!"

Sasuke was visibly struggling to pull his arm from where it had been lodged elbow deep into the sand shell. He had to reactivate the Chidori pull his arm free, stumbling back as the sand left shallow cuts on his arm.

The scratches were of minimal concern. What was more worrying was the sand arm that followed him out.

"What the hell is that?"

Shizuka didn't have time to answer as growling started to resonate from within the shell before it cracked and fell to reveal Gaara with a cut on his shoulder from where Sasuke had hit him.

The arena fell silent and Shizuka's eyes widened as there was an intense flicker of chakra nearby. She abruptly stood from her seat, attracting the attention of the Jōnin around her, their eyes warily sweeping around the arena before falling back on her to wait for an explanation.

"It's starting. Ocelot isn't here, it's an impostor." Shizuka whispered to Kakashi, prompting him to stand and follow her as she started to move to where said ANBU had been stationed.

She only managed a few steps before feathers started falling from the sky, a wave of drowsiness hitting her as she fell under the influence of the Genjutsu.

"Kai!" Clasping her hand into the tiger seal she released the genjutsu before looking around the arena, watching as most people fell under the influence of the jutsu, slumping in their seats fast asleep.

"Shizuka, find Ocelot." Kakashi called to her as he looked around to see the number of Konoha shinobi that had been ready for the attack and had already moved to stand.

Shizuka took that moment to close her eyes and focus her senses, trying to locate the chakra she knew belonged to the real Ocelot.

"I can't… He's supposed to be in the arena, but I can't find him." Shizuka grimaced before opening her eyes and making eye contact with Kakashi. "He's either elsewhere in the village, or he's dead."

An explosion from the Kage box drew everyone's attention towards it before they could comment on Shizuka's announcement.

"It's begun." Shizuka gasped as the present ANBU and Konoha forces prepared for the battle ahead, each one moving to stand clear of civilians so that the unconscious people wouldn't get stomped on.

Taking a moment to search around for unfamiliar signatures she located the person wearing Ocelot's mask before turning to signal nearby ANBU that the once wearing the mask was an impostor.

"You'll have to deal with him yourself, we're already stretched thin." Meerkat told her as he stopped next to her for a moment as his squad continued towards the Kage box. "Report to Jackal when you can, he'll have some work for you."

Shizuka grimaced but nodded her focus shifted back to the fake Ocelot only to find he was gone.

' _Damnit, I haven't memorized his chakra so I can't find him.'_ Shizuka growled before running back to Kakashi and the other Jōnin who were watching as a barrier was raised around the Hokage and Kazekage.

"They outwitted the ANBU Black Ops. And they were supposed to be the best." Kakashi grit his teeth his eye landing back on Shizuka. "Where's the impostor?"

"He's moved, I didn't get a good enough read on his chakra to locate him. He's the one responsible for the Genjutsu too." Shizuka looked around. "Sakura, glad you're awake, release the other Genin, we're going to need all the help we can get. Stay low and don't draw attention to yourself."

The pink-haired Genin looked to Kakashi who nodded his agreement and then moved to raise Ino and Chōji who were closest to her.

"There." Shizuka looked to the top row of the seating block they were in where the Ocelot impostor appeared, his hands already clasped in a handsign.

Moments later ten more sound shinobi burst through the staircase, stopping at the sides of the masked enemy.

"How troublesome, we'll have to take into account the sleeping civilians." Shizuka stood between Kakashi and Gai and the enemy, her eyes sweeping the area.

A burst of chakra near the village walls caught Shizuka's attention. There was only one jutsu she knew could create a ripple of that size while also keeping a lingering signature in its place.

"Giant summons?!" Shizuka glanced in the direction of the occurrence before stepping behind Kakashi and Gai. " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu.** Jun, find my father and alert him of the summons breaching the eastern walls, ask which plan to follow and spread the word."

Jun was larger than a common racoon, reaching up to Shizuka's knees while on all four paws, with a dusty red coat instead of the usual grey. He could almost be mistaken for a red panda if it weren't for his slimmer snout and a slimmer build. He was Shizuka's chosen messenger as he was the fastest racoon she could summon.

Jun dashed away along the railings, the Sound ninja tried launching kunai at him, but he easily dodged the projectiles on his way to his goal.

"The leaf is more organized than expected." The ANBU imposter mused as he looked around at the Konoha shinobi that were up and about, dealing with any foreign shinobi they could find. "I wonder where you got the intel."

Kakashi shifted his stance as Shizuka pulled out her tantōs, Asuma and Kurenai jumped up to surround the eleven shinobi facing them.

"Gaara and the sand siblings just left the arena." Shizuka told Kakashi who nodded in understanding. "Sasuke is going after them."

As soon as Shizuka spoke the sound started attacking, five of them going straight for the Genin who were just starting to come around.

"Sakura, Ino, Chōji, stay down while we clear the floor for a minute." Shizuka gave them a reassuring smile before calling to Kakashi. "The impostor is somewhere close by watching."

"Can you find him?" Kakashi asked as he parried a katana with a kunai, his head slightly turned to watch her back as she focused on sensing.

"Not with so many foreign people using jutsu at the same time. If we clear the area I should be able to pinpoint where."

"Focus on the fight here, if you can lock in his location, take the opportunity." Kakashi sent her a look in acknowledgement before his attention was dragged away when a Sand Jōnin attacked him.

Shizuka nodded and concentrated on the enemies surrounding them while Gai and Kakashi fought back to back as the sound shinobi attacked. While the sound had the advantage of numbers they were lacking in sheer strength. Asuma and Kurenai were both pushed further from them as they continued fighting their opponents, but they both were dealing just fine, neither had a scratch on them.

Shizuka could see Aoba launching controlled fire streams at his opponents before kicking them out of the stands, sending them crashing down to the arena below in balls of fire. She also identified some Chūnin fighting small groups of enemy ninja all around the stands.

' _Ah, father's team is moving into the village. Chōza-Oji will help deal with the giant summons.'_ Shizuka growled as another pair of sound shinobi attacked her from both sides.

With fast and efficient swipes of her wind enhanced tantōs, Shizuka cut through the enemy forces with ease. A cautious check of the area around her with her senses revealed none of her comrades was struggling.

' _These sound shinobi don't have the skills, they are all on a suicide mission hoping the numbers might overwhelm us.'_

It was a grim realisation that whoever gave them the orders just saw them as nothing but soldiers, completely disposable as long as they served their purpose.

' _Except we were prepared for something like this. No matter how thinly stretched our forces are, we can beat them because our shinobi are better prepared.'_

"Sakura, good job with the Genjutsu, now get Shikamaru and Naruto, you three are getting a mission. It'll be hard and dangerous, the first A-Rank since the Land of Waves." Kakashi told the pink-haired as the opponents in their area dwindled. "Go after Sasuke and help him. Once that objective is completed find a secure location to wait for your next order."

"Shikamaru is awake. He's just being lazy." Shizuka called over her shoulder as yet another sound shinobi tried to attack her close range, only for her to impale him with a shadow tendril through the throat.

"Shouldn't we get more help?" Sakura asked as she moved to Naruto's side, Ino and Chōji, who had been the first to be woken up, moved with her to cover her back, deflecting projectiles as they went.

"No time, the village walls have been breached and the Chūnin and Jōnin forces are busy dealing with that. Shikamaru is a suitable leader." Kakashi replied as he flew through the handsigns for the summoning jutsu. " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu.** Pakkun will track Sasuke and keep you out of trouble."

"A puppy?!" Sakura groaned as she worked through releasing Naruto from the Genjutsu.

"Listen, girlie, I'm a ninja hound. I've been on more missions than you. Now, get over it." Pakkun grouched as he landed next to her.

"Go, now!" Kakashi grunted as another wave of shinobi appeared.

Shikamaru groaned but joined Sakura as she pulled the confused Naruto along, the quartet moving along the front of the seats to exit through a gap in the arena wall.

"Shizuka, they are still getting in somehow, tell us where!" Gai called as more shinobi appeared from the staircase, a long kunai appearing in his hand as he used it to deflect some projectiles launched at him.

Shizuka groaned as she tucked her head down, her tantōs embedded into the floor while she clasped her hand in the ram sign. She wasn't the least bit worried about the shinobi coming at her, knowing Kakashi had moved closer once Gai had spoken and would have her back covered. Closing her eyes she spread her senses and found a tunnel leading outside the village.

"Tunnel, the south-east entrance gate to the arena, who's going?"

"We'll go!" Asuma called as he landed next to her a sound shinobi caught in his chokehold as he tried to attack Shizuka's back. "You guys have this area handled?"

"Yeah, better stem the incoming flow straight from the source." Shizuka sighed as she sent an appreciative smile at Kurenai who picked up the tantōs and handed them over to her. "Aoba is on standby in this area until it's all over, signal him if you need backup."

The two Jōnin nodded and were about to leave when Shizuka called out for them again.

"Asuma, there are nine Sound shinobi after Shika's team, they're going to need help." Shizuka informed him, his eyes darting to Kurenai briefly. "I'd recommend sealing the entrance with a Genjutsu and clearing it out before circling back into the village."

"Kurenai go ahead and get started on the Genjutsu, I'll get Izumo and Kotetsu to help." Asuma gave the red-eyed kunoichi a nod before they each left in a shunshin, allowing Shizuka to look for the impostor only to find him gone again, narrowing her eyes at the space he had vacated. _'Damn you, Kabuto.'_

From the corner of her eye, Shizuka could see Kakashi standing on the back of two rows of seats where Ino and Chōji were crouched low to the ground, keeping out of the line of fire.

"Ino, Chōji, your turn." Kakashi called as he glanced down at the two Genin, who shifted slightly to show that they were paying attention. "I know you want to backup Shikamaru, but you need to get out of this arena and check in with the academy Chūnin."

"Hai! Invasion protocol." Ino confirmed as she glanced at Chōji. "Let's go, Chōji."

The pair left once Gai cleared a path for them through the back wall. The two remaining Jōnin resumed their job of clearing the floor of the enemy allowing Shizuka more time to scan the area around her.

' _The numbers are thinning, fewer enemies are getting into the arena.'_ With a signal to Kakashi that she was moving to another area, she located Jackal near the barrier. _'Might as well see what's happening.'_

"Commander." Shizuka called as she landed behind the trio of ANBU looking into the barrier. "Wait are those…"

"Reanimation jutsu." Jackal explained, already knowing where she was going with her question. "The barrier, can you sense any weak points?"

Shizuka tilted her head to look at the purple shimmery wall, her eyes immediately finding one of the casters in the corner.

"None we can act on." Shizuka bowed her head, her eyes trailing down to the arena. "Commander, I must-"

"Go, you're of no use here."

With a nod and a final glance into the barrier, Shizuka launched off the roof, immediately proceeding to her sector of the village.

On her way across the rooftops, Shizuka could see the giant boa snakes, two of them locked in combat with a giant toad.

' _Ah, Jiraiya is there, good.'_ Her eyes swept across the distance she knew to be where the wall was and was pleased to see that other than the giant summons, the only other breach was on the same side of the walls. _'Enemy only coming from one direction, no need to worry about attacks from the back.'_

As soon as the thought crossed her mind a squad of eight sound shinobi found her. Taking a deep breath Shizuka jumped down into the streets, the enemy following her, only to get caught in the shadows coming from the side of the building.

"Watch where the sun is, you're making this almost too easy." Shizuka called up to them, her hand coming to rest above her eyes to block the direct sunlight from entering them.

Her opponents struggled as the tendrils of shadows started to snake around their limbs pinning them to the wall to keep them still as she dashed up the wall to eliminate each of them.

Letting the bodies fall to the ground Shizuka turned abruptly at the gasp coming from the ground floor of the building she just used. Going through a list of names of people that lived in this area Shizuka made a quick guess on who it was.

"Kairi-San, right? You may come out now. I'm Nara Shizuka of Konoha." Shizuka called out, waiting for a few seconds before said woman opened her window. "This block hasn't been evacuated?"

"Not yet." The woman looked up and down the street before focusing her attention on the kunoichi in front of her. "What's happening?"

"Konoha is under attack, but please, do not panic, it won't help the situation." Shizuka put her tantō away, gesturing for the woman to step further inside the house. "This area is being targeted due to its proximity to the arena, you should have been evacuated right away."

"What do we do?" The woman asked, her eyes wide as she shifted uneasily on her feet.

Shizuka jumped into the house and shut the window behind her, her senses spread around her sector while her eyes scanned the room inside.

Kairi was a widow, her eldest son was a Chūnin who often worked for the tracking division. Despite being a civilian, Kairi was always understanding of the shinobi she crossed paths with. She had started the academy but dropped out after deciding it wasn't for her, yet by the way she stood and the way she kept glancing at the nightstand Shizuka knew she had at least gone through some training.

"Get that kunai from your drawer, keep it tucked into your sleeve." Shizuka smiled reassuringly at her. "We're going to get your neighbours and move to a secured area."

The woman gave her a surprised and shaky nod but moved quickly to the small wooden table at her bedside.

"My son, would you know-"

"Rui, right? All I know is he's evacuating another sector." Shizuka answered as she moved efficiently down the hall and up the stairs.

The woman didn't answer but she let her head fall forward, her greying blond hair obscuring her face. Shizuka sighed and turned back to her, offering her a hand to move over a pile of rubble that had fallen from the ceiling sometime since the start of the invasion.

"Look, right now, worrying isn't helping. Rui is a good tracker, he's more help out there, looking for people to bring to safety than here." Shizuka gave her a firm nod when the woman looked up. "Come on, start from the top, cover the odd-numbered apartments."

Shizuka waited for the woman to start knocking on the door next to her before she did the same. Together, they found a total of six civilians in the apartments and another five in the building across the street.

Gently herding the people towards one of the secured buildings, Shizuka sighed in relief when two Chūnin finally appeared, their vests covered in dust and each showcasing a few bleeding scratches.

"Nara-san! The sector has been reached, there were too many and some of the evacuation Chūnin got caught in the battle."

"I can see that." Shizuka sighed as she glanced at the eleven civilians she had evacuated. "Take these civilians to the secure holding as previously arranged, it's only a few more blocks from here. Then return and evacuate the rest of the buildings."

"Hai!" The two Chūnin stepped forward and introduced themselves to the civilians who were standing closely together.

Shizuka watched them round the corner before launching up to the roofs again, her eyes scanning the area to ensure no other enemy shinobi had gotten into the sector before moving towards where she could hear the fighting.

After the death of the ANBU in charge of the southern residential district, Shizuka and Aoba both pitched in taking half of the area into their own. This meant Shizuka was left with the commercial district and a few blocks of the residential district directly next to it.

Because of the exams, a few shops would be closed meaning Shizuka's district would be seeing less activity while the fights were going on, making it easier for her to monitor who was in it. However, life in the village didn't completely stop, which meant there were still people roaming around the streets, making her sector a nice area to attack.

The Nara paused around the corner from where she could hear the fighting. Taking a moment to centre herself, Shizuka pooled her shadows at her feet, her senses spreading to the area where the fighting was happening, identifying her comrades as well as the enemy in a few quick seconds before striking.

Weaving through projectiles and punches, Shizuka with the help of the other three Konoha Chūnin cleared the street of enemy ninja in a few short minutes.

"Thank you, Nara-San!" Kodai, Reiji's teammate waved at her as she approached them, his navy blue hair cropped short with a few spikes at the front, his brown eyes focused on the approaching kunoichi. "What's the status in the sector?"

"A few loose enemy squads towards the east point, I'm heading there now. I need you guys to help with evacuating the southern residential, the rest is in the clear."

"We just had two Chūnin go that way."

"Yeah, there are three more apartment blocks, ideally they should have been cleared already." Shizuka glanced between the three Chūnin and sighed. "The situation in the arena was under control, the enemy won't infiltrate from that direction any more. The issue now is the breach of the eastern walls."

"And the Hokage? We caught a glimpse of the barrier…" Kodai frowned as his eyes strayed in that direction but returned to her as his view was blocked by a building.

"I don't have any information on that. Focus on the job at hand. Once you've cleared the area to regroup at the centre of this sector and await further orders."

Shizuka waited for their confirmation before making her way to the east of her sector. As she told the Chūnin before, the sector was mainly clear, there were only two points of it that had been attacked, the corner with the arena sector and the eastern side in line with where the walls had been breached.

As her sector was in the middle of the village it usually would mean that enemy could come from any direction, however, the leaf had been prepared and only two parts of the wall were breached and on the same side, meaning enemy were only coming from that direction. However, the arena had also been infiltrated, which gave the invaders another point of access, allowing them to spread further in the village.

Even then, the village worked out a system where the enemy troops were quietly herded to the already evacuated areas while silently evacuating the rest. This allowed for the Konoha shinobi to fight without worrying about who could get caught in the crossfire.

Shizuka held in a snicker as some enemy shinobi commented on the deserted streets as they broke into some buildings. Pushing close to the wall she tugged on the shadows to cover her slightly as she listened in to their words.

' _Five opponents. Average reserves.'_ Shizuka ducked behind a dumpster in the alley across the street from her targets.

Deciding against using her shadows as they would easily spot the shadows reaching across the street, Shizuka decided to simply pull them away from each other.

She bumped into the dumpster softly to attract their attention and one of the Sound shinobi quickly walked down the alley to check. Jumping out from behind the dumpster, Shizuka muffled his surprised yell and slit his throat, pushing his body behind the dumpster to keep it out of immediate sight.

As they realised their teammate didn't return the others approached the entrance of the alley, with two of them walking towards her hideout.

Once they were close enough, she pushed the dumpster away from the wall, letting the bin act as a barrier between the two startled shinobi and her. With them being blocked, she used those few seconds of confusion to launch a barrage of kunai towards the other two shinobi that were still close to the entrance of the alley.

One of them, the closest one to her fell after two kunai hit him in the neck and chest, and while the second one managed to dodge the projectiles, he couldn't dodge Shizuka's strike to his neck as she appeared in a shunshin in front of him.

Spinning quickly on her heel she pulled out her tantō with her right hand to deflect the incoming kunai and shuriken from the last two shinobi that had successfully dodged the dumpster.

"You're a fast one." The bald man spoke, his lips twisting into an ugly smirk as his eyes scanned Shizuka from head to toe. "Took down three of us before we could fully understand what was happening."

Shizuka narrowed her eyes as the pair, a man and a woman, prepared themselves to attack her. Normally she'd enforce caution, waiting to see if they'd attack first before retaliating but she was out of patience for the usual routine.

Launching forward in a straight line towards the man, Shizuka flexed her grip on the kunai, ready to react to any movement on his side. The man was tan and had one of those forgettable faces that were easily dismissed in a crowd. Shizuka estimated him to be slightly taller than average with bulky muscles and if her guess was right, he favoured taijutsu.

At the last moment, Shizuka shuffled her feet to land a solid jab at the man's lower ribs before spinning around his outstretched arms trying to hold her in place. She launched herself at the woman behind him, launching a barrage of kunai and following right behind it.

The woman managed to draw a weapon and parry two of Shizuka's fast strikes to her jugular and liver but was unable to counter the third strike to her right lung as the Nara spun the tantō in her hand to reverse the grip.

With a grunt Shizuka stumbled back as the last man standing landed a punch to her lower ribs, the impact making her exhale sharply. She didn't have time to recover as the man continued attacking with a flurry of punches and kicks, of which the first few grazed her body as she started to find a rhythm to the battle.

Forced to drop her blade after the man knocked it out of her hands, she tried to settle into a steady pattern to the man's attack, while she tried to locate a gap in his defence.

The moment an opportunity arose to counter-attack she took it.

In a fluid movement, Shizuka spun around an outstretched arm that had reached to punch her chest and grasped the forearm with her right hand. Using the spin to hide her left hand reaching for a kunai, she used her grip on the man to pull him forward while jabbing the blade towards his chest.

The man gasped, his eyes blown wide as he hunched over the weapon the had nicked his heart. Shizuka released the reverse grip on it and stepped aside, letting the man crumple to the ground, her eyes darting around the alley to locate her lost tantō.

As she reached for her discarded blade she reattached it to its sheath across her lower back. Spreading her senses she confirmed the enemies around her were dead before locating the next group.

By the time she reached the eastern end of her sector, she had already gone through two more squads of the enemy ninja. To her time had flown by as she had been busy following the standard procedure of ensuring the buildings were empty of civilians and enemies and making sure any allies that were injured were sent to the hospital.

It was also as she reached the end of the sector that she noticed the hawk soaring above, signalling the end of the evacuation.

' _Now that the inside is clear, the forces in the village will push the enemy back out.'_ Shizuka landed on one of the posts at the very corner of her sector, her hand reaching into her pouch to pull out a signalling tag.

The tag was nothing special, more of a failed detonation tag than anything and would simply let out green sparks for a while, depending on how long they were set for. Each sensor had one of them to activate when their zone was clear and the signal would trigger teams to start the procedure of cleaning up.

Once satisfied that the tag would be seen, she glanced around from her vantage point and took note of where there were other spark tags activated.

Tracing her route through the sectors that hadn't been activated, Shizuka made her way through the streets, nodding to the Konoha shinobi she crossed paths with that were still working on clearing some areas.

She tried not to focus too much on the bodies of fellow shinobi that she came across on the way, her mind supplying names and information when she came across people she recognized.

Chūnin. Tokujō. Jōnin. He had a son. She was an only child.

Shizuka was conflicted. She knew some of these people, had seen them in passing and yet now they were gone. She didn't have time to mourn her comrades, not now while the village was still under attack.

Yet despite knowing that she should push all of that to the back of her mind to get her job done efficiently she couldn't help but linger for a moment at each fallen ally she came across.

What pushed her over the edge was seeing Nara Toshiro crumpled on the ground along with two other Jōnin, one Yamanaka woman and a civilian born man, who she knew to be his former teammates.

She felt the brief sting of tears building up as she looked down upon the scene from the roof she was perched on. Toshiro was the son of her grandfather's cousin, making him your second cousin once removed.

He lived two houses down from her and was a constant fixture at the cypher department, meaning that he was often in the village and would normally be Shizuka's go-to person for coding whenever she was short on time.

He also babysat her very often when she was a kid. His son was two years younger than she was and one of the few clansmen in her age group. He was close with her father too who would just as easily dispatch her over to his house as he would pass her over to Chōza or Inoichi. She was Toshiro's 'trial baby' as he would lovingly call her whenever they saw each other.

She took a moment to recompose herself, her senses spreading to find her precious people to reassure herself that they were alright. Taking a deep breath she turned away from the street and looked around the village, emotions welling in her chest as she took in the destruction she could see.

Buildings had collapsed, some were smoking after having been set on fire and extinguished. Across the rooftops, she could make out bodies of allies and enemies strewn about.

She knew that the village would recover. Knew that the villagers would band together and support those in need, but it thinking about the future at that moment brought little consolation.

A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, a sand shinobi that had been in the squad fighting Toshiro's team twitched and spluttered, fresh blood trickling down his chin.

Jumping to land beside him, Shizuka looked him in the eye as she weaved through the handsigns for the shadow stitching jutsu, a tendril of shadow leaving the shadow at her feet to pierce the man's neck.

Her eyes trailed back to Toshiro one last time before she moved back to the roofs to continue on her way to the wall, her senses cataloguing the presence of the shinobi ahead of her in the last few blocks until she reached her destination.

' _Streets are clear of foreign shinobi up to the wall.'_ Shizuka sighed as she started to make her way to the gap in the structure. ' _I've been lucky by catching my opponents off guard and not needing to use too much chakra, but I'll definitely be feeling it all in a few hours. At least I have a food pill if I need a quick boost.'_

The treck from lighting the signal to reach the walls felt several hours long in her mind but had probably taken less than one. She landed on a post facing the wall in a crouch, her eyes scanning the area briefly as her mind worked to connect it with the information she gathered with her senses.

At this point, she was already suffering from a mild headache from the continued fighting, but she nevertheless pushed through the process of cataloguing the shinobi present.

"Took you a while to get here, Zuka." Kouta's deep voice reached her ears, causing her eyes to zero in on him as he parried the blow from a Suna puppet with his katana just below her position.

"Sorry, was a little busy in there." Shizuka let a tired smile slip through as she charged her tantōs with wind chakra, cutting the strings of the puppet with a smooth swipe of her blades. "Oops, sorry about that."

Kouta tagged the puppet with a detonating tag and jumped to her side, the explosion behind them causing his shoulder-length black hair to flutter in the breeze.

"Growing out your hair, sensei? You can even make a man bun now!" Shizuka sent him a side look as he glared at her. "And look at that stubble! Wow, didn't know Asami-San was into that."

"Shut up, brat." Kouta groaned, his dark eyes leaving her to focus on the shinobi in front of him.

Although he sounded annoyed, Shizuka knew it was more about the whole situation around them then her specifically. With another look at her sensei, she could tell that amongst his black hair there were new strands of grey, some of which she would readily admit to being her fault, and that he was getting wrinkles on his forehead from frowning too much.

' _At least you also have laugh lines too.'_ Shizuka let her lips twitch into an amused smile before it slipped from her face, her hazel eyes hardening as they fell on the remaining enemy.

Without warning the teacher-student duo launched into a run, Kouta's katana and Shizuka's tantōs glinting ominously as they were locked into combat with the last of the enemy forces.

Kouta and Shizuka might not have been on missions together recently, but they knew each other's styles very well, especially considering that Kouta taught her how to use the blades in the first place. This allowed them to easily complement each other, opening opportunities and shutting down any attacks before either got injured.

From where she was engaged in combat she could see the line start to retreat, even more so when a new squad joined the Konoha side.

"Oh, hello there!" Shizuka grinned cheerfully a shadow fell upon her and a trio of Sound Jōnin who glanced up with widened eyes at the massive form of the Akimichi clan head. "Thank you!"

While they were distracted by the newest arrival, Shizuka flew through handsigns required for her family's jutsu.

" **Kage Shibari."** (Shadow bind) The Sound shinobi's eyes widened as they realised they shouldn't have been worrying only about her father's shadows. "Sensei, if you would…"

Kouta didn't even blink before launching a kunai into each of the captured enemies throats, their bodies crumpling to the ground as Shizuka released them.

"Tō-San, how are things looking?" Shizuka asked as she jumped to land on Chōza's shoulder, where her father and Inoichi were both perched.

"We cleared the path down the main road, looks like inside the village it's pretty clear, ANBU started making their sweeps." Shikaku gave her a once over, his eyes catching on the scratches she had accumulated since the start of the conflict. "Anything of note?"

"Well, the last of the enemy in the village are engaged in combat." Shizuka replied after a few moments of concentration, her nose wrinkling as she stretched her senses as wide as she could. "No fighting from the arena…"

Shizuka took a few extra moments to certify that her friends were alright before her focus turned to the barrier holding the Hokage and Orochimaru.

"The Hokage…" Shizuka grimaced, her eyes opening to meet her father's dark brown ones. "It doesn't look good, it's flickering, like-"

Her father gave her a solemn nod when she trailed off, his eyes following the path back towards the arena, even from a distance the purple barrier was visible.

Shizuka didn't speak and closed her eyes, reaching across the village to once again reassure herself that her friends were alive while also trying to reach further in hopes of sensing her brother only to end up disappointed.

"Shizuka, go." Her father's voice sounded close to her as he placed his hands on her shoulders, his eyes searching out hers. "The enemy here is being pushed back, you might be tired, but you're uninjured, follow through with ANBU protocol."

"Hai." Shizuka took a deep breath and sheathed her tantōs, smiling at her father before she jumped down from her uncle's shoulder and ran back into the village.

She was surprised by Kouta's appearance at her side who simply raised his eyebrows when she glanced his way, but before either could say anything Kaito appeared at their sides in full ANBU gear.

"Eh, Kouta-Sensei, didn't know you were still an active ANBU." Kaito commented as he appeared next to them, his squad running along the roofs of the buildings to their right.

"Ah, only in case of invasion." Kouta replied, his eyes landing on Kaito's team. "Guess you guys might find out my mask soon."

Shizuka and Kaito shared excited looks before they jumped to higher ground so that they could jump into the arena.

Kaito and his team landed on the roof close to the barrier where Jackal and the other ANBU were converging while Shizuka and Kouta landed next to Kakashi, Gai and Genma and a few others who were facing off against the enemy.

With a quick scan of the arena around them, Shizuka turned whispered back to the Jōnin present.

"Other than impostor over there and Baki, the stands are clear of the enemy." Shizuka sent a glance around. "Aoba is doing the sweep of his sector?"

"Yeah, he left just after we blocked the tunnels they were using." Kurenai supplied just before the sound of cracking reached their ears. "The barrier, it's falling!"

"Where's Lord Hokage?" Genma asked, his head turning to look at Shizuka who was simply staring into the trees her gaze absent.

"Shizuka," Shizuka didn't tear her eyes away from the roof as Kouta called for her attention, her eyes remaining fixed on that single spot.

"ANBU! Five enemy ninjas are about to make a run for it!" Shizuka called as her eyes tracked the movement still obscured by the massive trees that had sprouted on the roof.

Jackal and two others jumped towards the five figures that emerged from within the branches. Jackal's hands grazed the pants if one of the shinobi, but was thrown off as he got caught in a web launched by the man with three pairs of arms.

"We should go after them." Gai called as he took a step further, only to be halted by Kakashi's voice.

"Wait, Gai. There is an entire ANBU squad ready to go, let them handle this. They probably have traps set up to cover their retreat."

"He's right, we have other things to handle." Shizuka turned away from the roof and towards the two remaining enemy shinobi. "Like Kabuto over there."

"Aren't you a smart one." Kabuto mocked as he removed Ocelot's mask, the porcelain cracking as it impacted the ground.

"We can't let them escape after destroying the village!" Gai growled his eyes darting around the shinobi around him, all who reflected his view.

"Obviously not, but we need to be smart about this." Shizuka replied her eyes trained on Orochimaru's lackey. "He has information on all of us and Orochimaru wouldn't have given him such important tasks if he was incompetent."

Kabuto clapped his hands, mocking laughter ringing in the air around them while the Suna Jōnin just shifted on his feet, his muscles tensed and ready for a fight.

"You have it all figured out, don't you?" Kabuto teased his yes passing each one of them. "Short-sighted, that's what all of you are. This has been in the works for years. My my, what fun has it been to watch you all walking blindly in the dark."

The Konoha shinobi glowered at the mocking tone, each one of them reaching for weapons, but before anyone could make a move, Kabuto formed the ram sign and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, Baki right behind him.

"Shizuka?"

"Still in range and moving away." Shizuka replied tonelessly as she turned to the roof where the Hokage was. "ANBU team has already met resistance on the pursuit of Orochimaru."

The shinobi around her fell silent, one by one jumping up and moving through the trees created by the reanimated First Hokage until they reached the Sandaime's body.

' _He sealed something… Jiraiya is probably the only one that can figure out what.'_ Shizuka closed her eyes and bowed her head along with the others.

No one moved or spoke as more people arrived, although she did glance up when Asuma showed up with Shikamaru on his back. She gently eased her brother off his back and allowed Shikamaru to lean on her while Asuma walked up to where his father's body was lying.

' _What now?'_

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments!**

 **Candice**

Thank you for the comment! It was a bit longer! It's around 16 000 words...

Yeah, I quite like Hayate and I have a story arc for him coming up for him so I'll be building his character a bit, but the invasion needs to end… So be on the lookout!

Yes, poor Shizuka, wait till the invasion is over to see how she feels about all of that XD

I loooove Kakashi so I couldn't resist making their friendship something fun and full of banter.

Sasuke is a little bitch around this time so yeah, there you have it. Shizuka will have to deal with that for a while longer, so she'll be having fun.

Shikaku will be teaching his kids a few lessons in the coming chapters, after all they have a lot to learn still.

Ah, Shizuka just doesn't want more responsibility… More on that to come ;P

Hope to have more soon! Thanks again for the comment! I love hearing you breakdown the chapter :D

 **Nella-mangalover93**

Hahahah it is a long one! :D

Yup, social butterfly. Gotta tease Kakashi, get Jiraiya in line, train those rookies and of course a little romance with Genma! It had a little of everything ;P

 **Guest #1**

Thank you! That's very kind of you! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

 **Lila Dunmare**

Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying the story! Hopefully you'll like what I have in store as well :D

 **Guest #2**

Thank you! In the parts of the story where we know better, it gets harder to add in small details and change things, but I'm glad you are enjoying them. I love Genma too, wish he had more time in the anime…

 **Made from broken hearts**

Thank you so much! It's surprisingly hard not to just make her OP sometimes, but it's also a fun challenge. XD Hope you enjoy the next few chapters!

 **Thanks for the comments!**

 **xx**


	39. Aftermath

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Here's a question for you lovely readers: Anyone excited for Itachi's return?**

 **Thanks! And I hope you enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 39 - Aftermath**

After they had found the body of their fallen leader a silence fell over the shinobi present. No one spoke or moved for what felt like a small eternity, but the moment was broken when more people started appearing.

First, the Hokage's body was taken away for safekeeping and then a swarm of medic ninjas flooded the roof in hopes of herding the shinobi that weren't in the condition to follow cleanup protocol towards the hospital.

Amidst the group was one familiar face.

"Kouta! You're alright." The man turned as Asami approached with a massive bag slung over her shoulder. "Shizuka-chan, I see you made it in one piece too."

"Asami-San!" Shizuka smiled tiredly at the blond before gesturing with her free arm at her brother. "My brother here will need a checkup."

"Ah, Shikamaru-kun, I haven't seen you in a while." Asami's chocolate brown eyes scanned over the three shinobi before nodding in satisfaction. "Let me give a quick check over you two first and then I'll deal with the Genin."

Shizuka and Kouta shared a look before Kouta stepped forward, allowing Asami to give him a more thorough check. The nurse's glowing hands swept over the man's body and only stopped where Shizuka assumed were the more serious bruises on his torso and a cut on his leg.

"Once you've been checked out go home. Ka-San will be worried." Shizuka whispered to her brother as they watched the woman work. "I'll be on call for a while, will probably crash at the bunker."

"I'll let her know." Shikamaru squeezed her shoulder before removing the arm he had slung over her shoulder for support.

Shizuka gave him a smile before bustling over to Asami with a sigh.

"I don't suppose you can skip over the chakra check?"

Asami didn't bother with a reply and instead tugged the smaller girl closer, her hands already glowing softly. Shizuka's only luck was that since there were still a lot of people needing to be healed she was only getting enough attention to be cleared for duty immediately.

Her checkup didn't last any longer than Kouta's and she was soon waved away with a warning look.

"I do not want to see you in the hospital once this is over. Neither of you." She gave them a stern look, only waving them away once she was satisfied that her message had gone through. "Now you… A Genin and fighting in the invasion? I thought you were different!"

Shizuka snickered as she caught Asami's words to Shikamaru and his answering complains but the sound coming from the roof soon faded into nothing as she made her way to the public toilets.

"Sensei, I need to change into ANBU gear, I'll need to meet up with my team soon."

"Alright, stay out of trouble." Kouta ruffled her hair before jumping through a hole in the wall.

Shizuka sighed and entered the stalls, mechanically sealing her flack vest and swapping it for her ANBU armour. Unsealing her mask, she attached it to her face before making her way back outside.

Since the sensors had already cleared the village the majority of them would join the rest of the forces in regular clean up duties. For Shizuka, it meant donning the ANBU mask and being assigned wherever her team was.

After doing a quick check on her pouches and unsealing an extra kit of kunai to replenish the ones she'd used she left the bathroom and made her way to the hole Kouta had left through.

Spreading her senses she quickly noticed the slowly dispersing signatures from the roof of the Kage box. Asami had been in a small team of six medics that were sent out to do a quick check on the shinobi before they resumed their duties.

From the glimpses of the people, she had caught there all of them were capable of medic ninjutsu although none of them were full medics, meaning none of them would be in charge of surgeries or any complicated procedure. However, it brought Shizuka to question the low number of proper field medics the village had available. Even within ANBU Shizuka could only list four qualified field medics and one more who was retired from the black ops and worked solely at the hospital.

Shizuka shook her head and returned her focus to the village. She could feel the teams of Chūnin moving about starting to clear rubble and sealing away the fallen shinobi, both allies and the enemy.

The young Nara did not envy whoever had the job of going through those scrolls, cataloguing what was found with each corpse, cause of death and any other information they could gather. Even then, she envied whoever had to tell the families even more.

' _Tō-San will write the letters.'_ Her mind supplied, her lips twitching into a frown. _'He will be overloaded, without a Hokage, he will be splitting those tasks with the council.'_

She landed at the centre of her sector in a crouch, her appearance easily drawing the attention of a team of Chūnin working on the piles of rubble in the street.

"ANBU-San! Nara Shizuka has cleared the sector and three teams are clearing the rubble. There is one other team collecting the bodies." Kodai, a tall lanky Chūnin gave her a quick nod, his eyes locking onto her mask, probably trying to guess who it was.

It was almost amusing to see people she knew trying to decipher the identity behind the mask, but she couldn't say much about it considering she would have done the same. It was, after all, an instinct to want to know who you were talking to.

"Good, I'll be sure to let Nara-San know this area is still clear. Report to your supervisor in the academy building at the end of the day." The boy gave her a nod before returning to his teammates, the boy and the girl gave her glances before they returned to their task.

Clean-up was one of the most simple protocols the village had, even if small changes were made depending on what the condition the village.

In this case, medics were still on call for the injuries. Some units would be dispatched to ensure the shinobi still working were still fit to work. It always amused Shizuka to know that the hospital was forced to send out these teams because several shinobi would just continue working until they dropped because they didn't want to go to the hospital.

The Chūnin were mainly the ones in charge of clearing the streets of rubble and bodies. The Jōnin that were in good enough condition to not be admitted into the hospital but not fit enough for other duties were there to help and supervise.

Meanwhile, some Jōnin would be sent out to either gather information on who attacked, reinforce border patrol or to take on the higher level missions to earn more funds for the village while it recuperates from the damage.

ANBU would fall into the same protocol as the Jōnin. Although the number of missions taken and patrols remain the same, riskier missions might be undertaken for the sake of funding, and patrol teams would be reduced to fewer members to ensure the village still had high-level shinobi for defence.

With ANBU taking more A and S ranked missions, the lower-ranked missions received, the B and still some A ranks would be delegated to regular Jōnin.

It was a hard balance to strike and she didn't envy her father for having to sort out mission rosters during these times.

This roster was built and divided into smaller groups through two questions of the shinobi's status. Is the shinobi in or out of the village? Is the shinobi injured, in recovery or fit for duty?

When deciding on a team for a mission this roster was consulted for the initial selection, then more filters were applied based on the mission parameters such as rank, type and suitability. For example, an A-rank infiltration based mission filtered the roster down to Jōnin and Tokujō with special abilities suitable for infiltration and information gathering.

It wasn't a hard algorithm to understand however, the shinobi would depend on the client's word for the success of the mission. An incorrectly ranked mission could lead to the team's failure.

Despite all that, the complicated part of assigning missions came from what is left behind.

The village had a rule that at any point in time, there was always a certain number of active shinobi in the village in case of an attack. This meant that injured shinobi weren't fit and recovery shinobi would be pushed as support only tasks while the fit in village shinobi had to fight.

With the losses from the invasion her father would have to be careful with how many shinobi he sent out, not only because he had to keep in mind the numbers still in the village but also keep some to spare in case other villages decided to test the borders.

Iwa was one that often enjoyed sending a few squads to check in on Konoha shinobi near grass and once the word got out they would happily take it as a sign of weakness for them to exploit.

For the next hour, Shizuka made her way through different areas of the village to ensure the civilians could move back to their residences. And while she ensured the stability of those buildings she also kept a close watch on the use of chakra around.

Once satisfied that everything in her area was good to go she notified Kodai that as soon as the bodies were out of the way the civilians could return. The rubble would likely take a few more days to be completely removed since it would be checked for any salvageable part before being disposed of.

As she approached the main gates she easily spotted Cat, Ape and Mantis standing off to the side in full gear. She gave them a brief wave before signing her personal code, their shoulders relaxing as Cat answered with the standard confirmation code.

"Where's Grizzly?"

"He was injured while protecting the Hokage and was reassigned to in village light duty." Cat-Taichō explained as he gave her a brief once over. "What's your status?"

"Bruised ribs and lower on chakra than I'd like, but I have a food pill if it drops too low." Shizuka glanced around taking note of the Jōnin on gate duty. "What are our orders?"

"Find where they were hiding and if we find a trace follow it through to infiltration." Cat turned to the other two. "This is an unscripted mission, meaning we can't predict what rank it will turn out."

The man received three nods in understanding before the four disappeared into the trees.

* * *

It was odd being outside the village while knowing it had suffered so much damage during the invasion. It felt like she was leaving a friend behind in their time of need to get work done. Work that she wasn't sure would be of any help.

It took them twenty minutes at an average pace to find their first clue.

"There is a door in this area." Mantis spoke, a few of his kikaichū returning to his sleeve. "Around the base of this tree."

It took him a few short minutes to locate the entrance that had been sealed shut with a boulder.

"Should we call for backup?" Ape asked as he approached, running his gloveless hands across the smooth surface of the stone. "It's simply lodged, I can move it with a doton."

"It's empty, no signs of life…" Shizuka frowned as she concentrated on the area behind the boulder. "Odd, it doesn't seem like there were seals of concealment, and at this distance, I would have sensed people inside."

"Perhaps it only blocks sensory perception at long-range." Cat suggested as he took a few steps back with Mantis to allow Ape the space for a jutsu.

"I've never heard of a seal like that, but I'll ask Jiraiya-San next time I see him." Shizuka sighed as she watched Ape slam his hands on the ground after running through a series of handsigns.

" _ **Doton: Chidōkaku"**_ _(Earth Style: Mobile Core)_

With a slight tremor, the ground under the boulder shuddered before dropping a couple of meters, just enough so that the boulder was moved down enough to clear the entrance.

"Ape and Chipmunk partner up, Mantis you're with me." Cat called before he gestured Shizuka into the revealed tunnel.

Inside was a bare corridor, nothing on the walls and a few open doors showing empty supply closets and rooms.

Each pair took one side of the corridor as they moved through the hideout, but everything of value had been taken away and the only things left behind were the furniture and basic supplies, with things such as clothes, sheets and ink bottles amongst them.

It didn't take long for there to be a fork in the corridor and with a single gesture, the group of four divided into their pairs to continue their search.

It was only while Shizuka checked inside the thirteenth room since they had split down different corridors of the hideout that she noticed the chakra in the walls.

"Shit." Shizuka turned on her heel after sweeping a glance around the room, almost running into Ape as he stepped inside to see what had drawn the curse from her. "We need to get out of here now."

"Chip-"

"I'm signalling the others. Let's go." Shizuka waved away his concern and started running in the direction they came from, her chakra flaring and pushing against Mantis' bugs. "There is a chakra buildup in a seal somewhere, it'll bring this whole place down."

Ape cursed as he matched her quick pace, the sound of the other pair approaching echoing loudly in the dimly lit space.

Shizuka was the first out and Ape was a step behind her, but she didn't stop immediately out of the hideout and instead moved several metres away on a branch high up in a tree.

It only took Cat and Mantis a few seconds more to reach them but as they were jumping through the air towards the branch their teammates were on they were thrown off course by the sudden shockwave of an explosion.

Shizuka and Ape crouched low on the branch with chakra at their feet to keep them on while the gust of wind tried to push them off. As the moment passed, Cat and Mantis were finally able to join them, each showcasing a few scratches from debris lifted in the wind. The Nara could faintly feel the sting left behind on her legs and biceps that weren't covered by any reinforced armour.

"Chipmunk, explain." Cat ordered, his tone stern as the entire team turned to her for the answer.

"It was a seal I've seen before, it gathers chakra from the moment it's activated and builds it up until it detonates." Shizuka sighed, her shoulders slumping as her mind recalled the last time she'd seen this type of seal.

' _That mission I ran into team seven, the caves also had seals in the areas holding the civilians and so I hadn't sensed them. And of course, there were the seals that destroyed the place afterwards.'_

"What made it activate?" Ape questioned after Shizuka explained the last time she had seen the seals.

"Probably moving that boulder." Mantis suggested, his kikaichū leaving his body once again to return to the location of the hideout. "Why do you think it only blew when we were inside and after several minutes too."

"It was a trap meant to take out as many shinobi as possible. If we'd called for backup…" Shizuka trailed off, her gaze unknowingly drifting in the direction of the village.

"We need to notify the other team; all bases likely had these seals incorporated." Cat turned to Shizuka who hadn't snapped back into the moment. "Chipmunk, only one other team is dealing with the bases. Send a summon to find them and one to the village, Jackal and Shikaku-San should be warned now."

The Nara broke out of her thoughts when called and quickly ran through the handsigns for the summoning jutsu before slapping the ground, a cloud of smoke dissipating to reveal Jun and Kei.

"Kei, return to the village and find my father and Jackal-San, inform them that the hideouts are rigged with explosive seals along the walls" Shizuka looked over her shoulder to Cat, who gave her a small nod. "Go ahead. Jun, your task is…"

Shizuka hesitated before turning to her captain again once she realised she didn't know who was on the other team.

Knowing what she was about to ask, Cat stepped up and spoke directly to the reddish racoon.

"Jun-San, find Lynx's team, he should be North-West from here, ensure his team is out of those hideouts safely and tell them to simply mark the locations instead of entering." The senior ANBU took the moment to observe Chipmunk's reaction, but the young Nara was as still as a statue.

Shizuka's messenger racoon gave him a nod and dashed away after his summoner made no move to dispute the order.

"There will be more hideouts in the area, right?" Ape broke the short silence as the quartet collected their thoughts. "Our mission isn't over."

"We can't collect anything in that short time, we would need to disable the seal." Mantis reasoned, the faint buzzing of his kikaichū revealing his frustration.

"Chipmunk, what can you tell us about the seal."

"It builds up chakra through the walls after activation, mostly natural chakra from the environment around it. It's the reason it takes me a while to notice it." Shizuka sighed, moving to stand fully. "We need a seal master to analyse the situation in more detail."

"You're right, the only person who would be able to disable a seal that gathers natural chakra is likely a master. Chipmunk I'll recommend for you to be the one to assist Jiraiya-San in this task." Cat agreed before he turned to look directly at Mantis. "Any ideas on how many other hideouts in this area?"

"My kikaichū found only one similar entrance in the area." Mantis informed, the team falling into formation behind him when Cat gave him the go-ahead signal.

The team stayed silent as they moved to the next location. Just as they landed in front of a similar boulder like the one from the previous base the silence was disrupted by a loud explosion coming from the North. For a few minutes no one moved, the silence was dreary, broken only by the first few droplets of rain.

"Let's get this mission over with." Cat broke the silence with a stern tone, his hands pulling out scrolls with the equipment they would need to seal off the entrance so that no one could go in and set off the seals accidentally.

Once they sealed the base and ensured no one would be able to activate the seals and hurt themselves, the team investigated the area around to check for any bases they might have missed.

They continued searching for two days and had found a third base with the same seals as the first two. Once they had double-checked the area they were finally able to return to the village.

* * *

On the third day after the invasion, the entire squad reported directly to Jackal, although Danzo's presence at the back of the room was duly noted by the ANBU.

As they were wrapping up their report, the second ANBU team entered Shizuka's range, all alive and moving at a reasonable place, indicating that none were in a serious condition.

The best part of reporting straight to Jackal was that it meant they were already at the ANBU base, which meant they could easily shower and change before going home. However, after a hectic few days she'd had, Shizuka just really wanted to go home.

Once Ape cheerfully claimed the showers first, Cat settled at the desk in their bunker for a head start on the written report and Mantis opted to go straight home.

With a sigh, Shizuka reached into her trunk and pulled out her Chūnin vest and black pants and turtleneck with the Nara symbol stitched onto her sleeve. Moving to the corner of the room she changed out of her wet shirt and pants, bundling up the dirty clothes and throwing them into a bag to take home.

She gave her captain a quick farewell as she left and moved at a hurried pace along the roofs through the main part of the village before jumping to the ground as she approached the compound.

When Shizuka reached her house, the first thing she noticed was her mother's signature lying on the couch, the smooth flow of chakra letting the young Nara that her mother was sound asleep.

Stepping inside she sat on the small step to remove her shoe, but before she could remove her second boot, Nara Danno approached her door.

"Shizuka-chan, there is a clan council meeting in the hall. Is your mother available?" The man was one of the elders of the council, her grandfather's cousin and a former Jōnin of the village.

She had never spent much time with the man as he generally kept to himself outside of clan events. And even if he wasn't well known, having spent his career as a shinobi out of the spotlight, he could be easily identified as a Nara. Narrow dark eyes, tan skin and although he now sported a shaved head, Shizuka had seen pictures where he sported the typical pineapple hairstyle that clan was so fond of.

"Oka-San is asleep, and Otō-San hasn't returned from the office yet. Perhaps it is a matter I can help settle?"

The man's eyes sparkled momentarily in amusement and his lips twitched upwards briefly before he bowed his head slightly, gesturing with one hand towards the main path through the compound.

Putting her boot back on and moving to walk by the man's side, Shizuka sighed as she glanced up at the deep orange sky as the sunset.

"How have you been, Shizuka-chan? You haven't been to a meeting in a while."

"Ah, I was put on special duties during the exams. Otō-San made sure to give me the notes from the meetings, so I should be caught up on everything."

It was a short walk from the clan head's house to the main hall of the compound. The building was the largest of the compound and no one lived there, although there were beds on the upper level should they ever be needed. In the building, there was a formal dining area and kitchen for formal events, a council room and the clan library and archives.

Shizuka gave the door to the clan library and archives a glance as she removed her shoes before moving into the council room.

The Nara clan wasn't large and the structure was simple. The people in the council were the ones that had a specific task within the clan, such as the clan head, financial advisor, research and development leader, maintenance of the compound and someone that dealt with the forest and lands they owned. There were also seats for two civilian clan members and two shinobi clan members that were there to represent the clan in general. The heirs of the clan and the matriarch also had seats.

This meant that Daichi and Shikamaru both had seats as heirs as they were directly related to a clan head. The Nara had always reasoned that heirs weren't immortal and training only the eldest to assume the title wasn't a good idea and therefore all the children of the clan head would be raised with the knowledge to take over.

After a glance around the room, Shizuka identified that everyone was present and moved to sit on the seat to the right of the head of the low table.

She may have been the heir and technically the highest chair of the meeting, but she had no intention of sitting in her father's seat anytime soon, her position was noted by the others in the room who gave her nods in understanding.

"Thank you for waiting. Oka-San and Otō-San are unavailable, I'll take the lead for this meeting in their stead." Shizuka cast her gaze around the table as her fellow clan members took their seats. "This is the first meeting since the invasion, correct?"

"Hai, Shizuka-San." Nara Fumiko spoke her dirty blonde hair in a tight bun at the top of her head. Her hands rested on a few slips of paper which Shizuka assumed were the reports on the clan's finances.

While not one of the wealthier clans, the Nara clan due to its smaller size and strong ties to the rest of the village lived comfortably. It also helped that the Nara couldn't really be bothered to get anything that wasn't necessary and therefore weren't big spenders.

"Very well." Shizuka sat up straight and clasped her hands on the table in front of her. "I don't have as detailed information as Otō-San in regards to the invasion, but what I do know and can share, I will."

Lifting her eyes from her hands she paused briefly to look at the empty seat of Nara Toshiro, a pang in her heart reminded her of what had been lost, but she pushed through after clearing her throat and tearing her eyes away from the empty spot.

"We lost two members in the conflict. Chūnin Sada and Jōnin Toshiro." Shizuka paused, allowing the room to fall into respectful silence for a minute before continuing softly. "Tomoko-San could you organise the rites and small ceremony in the forest for tomorrow, please?"

"Hai, Shizuka-San." The woman replied a soft bow of her head, her light brown hair spilling over her shoulders at the movement.

It was almost easy to forget that the graceful woman, her father's distant cousin, wasn't an actual shinobi. She moved silently and efficiently with the grace of a shinobi but she had only ever been trained in basic taijutsu and could maybe hit one or two targets with a kunai out of several attempts. What she lacked in the shinobi arts she made up with her compassion and charisma, which earned her a seat on the council as a civilian representative.

"The hospital is going to need stocks of the medical creams and antidotes we have for Suna poisons. How much can we spare without completely depleting our stores?"

"We're able to supply our entire stock of antidotes as we have enough ingredients for more, although we might below on a few plants for a few months until their harvest season," Rikuto replied, pushing over the chart with the numbers of plant stocks.

The man was in charge of the research and development sector of the clan, often being the liaison with the rest of the village due to his contacts from his career as a researcher.

"I'll request an estimation of required supplies from the hospital so that we don't spend more than necessary, we can hold off on the supply run until those numbers come in. Fumiko, I would like you to deal with the finances involved to give to the financial chief of the village. If we will be low on plant stocks, check with the Yamanaka and make a deal with them, or request from the village a Genin team for the harvest as repayment."

"Smart, with the village using funds to rebuild, a Genin team to deal with the harvest would turn out cheaper for them and equally beneficial for us." Danno whispered to her, his eyes crinkling at the sides as he smiled at her.

"Has the forest been damaged at all?""

"No, although the deer have been restless, so the herd retreated further into the forest."

"There are only two injured shinobi from our clan, Jōnin Ensui and Chūnin Chiko will be off duty for a week or so. Ensui will most definitely miss his appointments at the hospital, so if someone could notify Takato-San that he should be prepared to do those check-ups here in the compound, that would be wonderful."

"I'll be sure to let my son know about his new task." Tomoko replied, a smirk tugging at her lips. "What is the status with the Yamanaka and Akimichi?"

"Neither have approached us for any assistance, although the Akimichi are likely to ask for supplies for their restaurants that have been damaged," Shizuka answered, her eyes falling onto the elder Rio, who owned a woodwork shop. "They will hand us a list of what they require, so please have the workers prepared for them as well as the rest of the village."

"I'll be sure to let them know to expect some busy shifts. When should we expect to open the shops again?"

"We'll likely keep them closed from the general public a bit longer and run on direct requests, but once the village requests have been completed we can reopen them."

"That will also give us time to organise the stocks and ensure quality as we won't need to rush as much." Rio nodded in agreement, the others at the table nodding along.

"The last point is who will take over Toshiro's seat in the council." Danno supplied, as he leant over to Shizuka. "Nara Ensui would be most suitable, but he's refused it ever since he was initially offered the position."

"Perhaps you could convince him, Shizuka-San. You're the only person in this council that hasn't tried." Fumiko teased, her brown eyes twinkling in mischief. "You _did_ convince him to hide you from your mother on the promise of bailing him out from a meeting with your father."

Shizuka shrugged as the others snickered as they remembered the scene of Yoshino searching the entire compound for the troublemaking toddler while said child was napping in the forest with Ensui who pointed the clan head's wife in the wrong direction when questioned.

"I'll see what I can do, although Otō-San will have the final say." Shizuka glanced around the table one last time. "Is there anything else to be discussed?"

"Nothing that we can do without the replied from today's notes. You should turn it for the day, Shizuka-San, you need to be rested for the coming days." Danno gave her hand a soft pat, a small smile spreading across his lips as the heiress covered up a yawn.

"Never say no to sleep. Thank you all for your assistance, The notes-" Shizuka turned to Tomoko who was always in charge of taking notes during these meetings. "Thank you. I'll be sure my parents are aware of what we talked about so that they can take over from here. Goodnight."

Shizuka gave them a brief bow and moved slowly back to the entrance of the hall to put on her shoes to return home.

After taking off her shoes, Shizuka moved through the corridor to leave the notes of the meeting at her father's desk.

She doesn't remember how, but she ended up falling asleep on the chair across from her father's desk, her chin against her chest as her head fell forward and arms crossed.

Hours later, in the early morning, she was woken up by the familiar presence of her uncle nudging her awake.

"Come on, Zuka-Chan, let's get you up to your room." Daichi's deep tone was soothing as he whispered to her, his hands clasping her arms to pull her to a standing position.

"Chi-Oji?" Shizuka mumbled, rubbing her hand over her eyes in hopes of clearing up her vision.

"Sorry I'm late, Zuka." He wrapped an arm around her waist as they made their way slowly out of the office and towards the living room where Shizuka caught sight of her father carrying her still asleep mother up to their room.

"Ka-San didn't wake up?"

"Seems like the clan's ways have been rubbing off on her after all." Daichi teased, earning a snort from her father and a tired giggle from Shizuka.

"How long are you back for?"

"As long as I can stay. Now, to bed. We can talk tomorrow." Daichi kissed her on the temple and gently ushered her into her room.

"G'night" She reached back to give his hand a squeeze and a smile before moving to her bed, only sparing a moment to remove the weapons from her person before collapsing on her mattress.

* * *

"Toshi-Oji!" Shizuka grinned as the man opened the door to his house to see the clan head carrying his daughter under an arm.

"I need a break." Shikaku groaned as the eighteen-month-old toddler wiggled in an attempt to free herself. "Yoshino packed a bag with everything she needs for the weekend, there is a paper with the schedule. We'll pick her up when the weekend is over."

"What?" Toshiro's eyes flickered between the squirming toddler and the recently named Jōnin Commander who had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. "Yuka isn't here this weekend. Shikaku I can't babysit a toddler on my own!"

"You'll figure it out. Just… Don't look away from her."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"She walked into a spar between Daichi and Ensui and got caught in the Shadow possession. Just… go see the deer, take naps and for the love of Kami don't let her out of your sight."

Shikaku groaned as he shoved the still flailing toddler at the Jōnin who squawked when the girl gripped his loose hair and gave it a strong tug.

"You might want to put your hair up as well, she likes tugging on hair. Good luck! See you after the weekend is over!"

Before Toshiro could make any further comments the Jōnin Commander dropped the bag that he had been carrying and disappeared in a shunshin, leaving the man confused and with a child in his arms.

"Deer!" Shizuka cheered as she gave the man a few pats on the cheek while pointing at the forest with her other hand.

"Let's see what your schedule says first."

Toshiro brought her inside and planted her on the couch while he dug around the bag in search of the schedule.

"Hm, lunch is packed, water… Bath? Oh, come on…" Toshiro groaned as he rubbed a hand down his face before opening his eyes and finding the child gone from the couch. " _Shit_. Shizuka?"

"Deer!" The answering call was quickly followed and he scooped her up just as she was lowering herself down the back porch to head towards the forest.

"How are you so fast already?!"

"Please, Toshi-Oji!" Shizuka looked up at him with big round eyes, the hazel orbs sparkling as the man visibly slumped in acceptance.

"Alright, let me grab blankets and maybe some berries. Your Kaa-San said you could eat those already." The man settled her on his hip as he moved back into the house to get what he needed.

In a matter of minutes, they were in a clearing in the forest watching the deer graze while Toshiro read his book on Shogi strategy out loud.

The weekend she spent there was spent in much the same manner and on the Sunday Yuka, his wife, returned from her mission to find the man on the porch with a sleeping toddler in his lap as the clouds gathered overhead for a storm.

"I heard you were babysitting this weekend." Yuka grinned brightly at him when she noticed he was combing his fingers through the girl's hair as she slept. "Have you changed your mind about having one of our own?"

"This one is a little troublemaker and as curious as they come, but she's an easy child to take care of." Toshiro smiled back as he put his book aside and reached for his wife. "We just napped a lot, and I read, she seemed content with just that. I wouldn't mind babysitting her more often, as a trial baby."

"A trial baby?"

"For when we have our own." Toshiro grinned before planting a kiss on Yuka's forehead as the trio cuddled while listening to the soothing rain outside.

* * *

Shizuka woke up the next day with a small smile as she remembered her dream. It was a story Toshiro used to tell her when she asked about her nickname and about why he was always the one volunteering to babysit her from inside the clan.

Turning her head to look out the window she took note that it seemed like it would be raining that day too.

' _Sandaime's funeral is this morning.'_ With a sigh, she sits up in bed, her eyes easily falling on the black dress her mother had set aside for her. _'And tonight Toshiro-Oji's and Sada-chan's."_

She stayed in bed for a few minutes until she heard her father and uncle moving towards the kitchen while talking about what had been happening around the village.

Deciding to get dressed only after breakfast, she reached for a report scroll and something to write with before leaving her room. As she stepped into the hallway, her brother left his room already in his black outfit.

"Morning." He yawned as they walked together to where her uncle and father were sitting on the back porch.

"Morning." Shizuka gave her a family a small smile before settling beside her uncle who was also working on his report, her head falling onto his shoulder momentarily. "Missed you."

"Missed you too." He leaned his head against hers for a moment before glancing at her from the corner of his eye with a smirk playing on his lips. "So, when do I meet the boyfriend?"

"Oh come on, I thought we were over this." Shizuka pushed away from him, her eyes momentarily darting to her father and brother who were setting up the shogi board for a match. "I'll invite him for dinner when things have calmed down."

Her uncle hummed as he returned to writing his report and soon she started on her own. She let the familiarity of the sound of her uncle writing and her brother and father playing soothe her.

Her mother soon joined them with a book and breakfast, which they enjoyed peacefully as they each did their own thing. As they finished eating and her mother and uncle started putting everything onto a tray to wash up, Shikamaru groaned.

"You win." The decisive clap of their father's piece on the board loud in the sudden silence.

"No, he won ten moves ago." Shizuka murmured her eyes still stuck on the page in front of her, although she could sense the annoyance rolling off her younger brother while the adults seemed amused.

"How do you know, you're not even looking."

Looking up from the report to look at her brother she gave him a smirk while his eyes narrowed on her.

"His chakra still wavers in smugness whenever he crosses the line to inevitable victory."

"Oh come on." Shikamaru rolled his eyes, sending their father an appraising look. "No way."

"Hey, at least he never starts the game already smug at the victory, you are after all yet to beat him." Shizuka shrugged, her eyes returning to her report.

"So are you."

"I'm closer than you."

"Alright, we should finish getting ready. We need to leave soon." Yoshino laughed as she finally stood with Daichi helping her with the trays. "Be ready in half an hour."

"Oh, Ka-San, I'm going to lunch at Genma's place so I won't be eating at home."

"Is he cooking?"

"We are cooking together."

"Sounds lovely." Yoshino gives the men around her warning glares as they shift around with varying levels of a pout.

Shizuka gave her a small smile in thanks and placed a kiss on her cheek before disappearing into the house to put on her clothes.

* * *

As they entered the roof area of the Hokage tower, the family spread out to stand in different groups. Shikaku and Yoshinho moved to stand with the other clan heads and the department heads and Shikamaru moved to stand with the rookies. Daichi and Shizuka stood amongst the rookies' senseis and some other Jōnin and Tokujō.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu stood in front of the picture of the Sandaime, which was centred along a line of pictures of those who had fallen.

The elders knelt in respect and lit an incense stick and the small candles on the table that would be used to hold the flower offerings.

Without looking at the mass of shinobi behind them, Homura spoke up, his voice steady and loud for those on the roof to hear.

"We are gathered here to honour and remember, the Third Hokage and all those who have passed while protecting the village and its future."

Shizuka's gaze flickered to the side where several ANBU were standing together with their black cloaks and hoods pulled up. Her eyes then drifted a few pictures to the right of the Sandaime to find Nara Toshiro's smiling picture staring back at her.

Closing her eyes and bowing her head, she felt her uncle's hand brush against hers, but neither moved to make eye contact.

Koharu then listed the names of those who had passed, Shizuka catching on to the ones of the people she knew.

' _Nara Toshiro. Yamanaka Michi. Sasaki Kira. Takara. Shimizo Fumihiro.'_ Shizuka grit her teeth as the list went on. _'And the list goes on."_

Looking back up to the line of pictures, Shizuka fiddled with the flowers in her hand. She stopped twirling the stems as the first drops of rain hit her skin, her head tilting upwards letting the cold droplets run down her face.

Once all the names had been called, a line was formed to lay flowers on the table in front of the pictures and each person would have an opportunity to say their last prayers, before dispersing.

As she followed the line she put the white flower on the table in front of the Hokage's picture before moving to kneel in front of her uncle's smiling face. She placed another flower there, a small ribbon with the Nara symbol stitched on tied around the stem.

Standing back up she fell back into the place she was standing at the start of the ceremony, her eyes falling as each person put down a flower on the table and other offerings in front of the other people that had a special meaning to them.

She met her father's gaze as he too left an offering to his cousin before returning to his spot. Taking a moment to look around the roof, she spotted Yūgao shaking her head at Kakashi who had just arrived.

The Copy nin met her eyes and gave her a brief signal when she raised her eyebrows at him.

' _Meet me after at stone.'_ He signalled subtly, his eyes darting to his Uchiha student who was just putting a flower on the table.

' _Got it.'_ Shizuka gave him a nod before his attention turned to his blonde student who seemed to be a completely different person while covered in bandages and without his typical grin.

From where she was, she could faintly hear the sound of someone crying, her eyes being drawn to the child between Naruto and Iruka.

' _Hokage's grandson…'_ Shizuka turned to another row where she found Toshiro's son, Kenchi who had his light brown hair cropped short as he was known within the clan to have wild and messy hair and thus gave up on the typical style.

By the time she was dragged out of her thoughts, people were already dispersing. Daichi joined her parents as they left the roof, the rookies too seemed to have left already.

Genma found her first as she started to move to the stairs to head down the tower.

"I'm going to grab some things from my mother's place," Genma whispered as he fell into step with her, one of his hands resting softly on the small of her back. "You want to come?"

"Sorry, Kakashi wanted to talk about something."Shizuka shook her head, squeezing his hand. "Say hello to your mother for me. I'll meet you at your place."

Standing on her tiptoes she planted a quick kiss on his cheek before they split up in the crowd.

As she followed Kakashi's signature to the memorial stone, she closed her eyes to enjoy the sunlight starting to shine through the clouds.

Her journey to the training field was uninterrupted and the path leading to the stone was deserted, making the tall figure in front of the memorial stand out in the open area.

She stopped beside the silver-haired ninja as her eyes traced down the engraved names on the stone.

"With the damage done to the village, I'm likely to get put on the active roster." Kakashi broke the silence without looking away from the memorial. "I know you'll be busy too, but something needs to be done about Sasuke."

"You want me to bribe him with techniques, don't you?" Shizuka sighed as she turned to the man. "Come on, Senpai. He barely listens to me."

"You'll figure it out." Kakashi shrugged before they fell silent again. "I just need you to drop by sometimes, spark his interest with something, anything to keep him from thinking too long about the mark."

"Got it. I'll do that whenever I have time." Shizuka nodded, running a hand through her loose hair. "Who are you making wait?"

Kakashi didn't answer for a few minutes and Shizuka was about to say goodbye when he finally answered.

"Sasuke."

"Maybe if you showed up on time he'd be more appreciative of your teaching." Shizuka shook her head before patting him on the shoulder. "See you around, Jiji-Senpai."

The man waved over his shoulder at her as she left through the same path she arrived from. Making her way to Genma's apartment she basked in the quiet of the streets as people just started returning to their routines after the ceremony that morning.

As she enters the main street she sees Jiraiya and Naruto talking, the former with a backpack slung over his shoulder while the latter seemed to be arguing with him. The Sannin easily catches her eyes and gives her a nod, the blonde having caught the exchange turns and gives her a small wave before running off.

"I need a favour," Jiraiya called as she approached, giving her a small piece of paper. "I need you to find someone."

"Yeah, Tsunade." Shizuka raises her eyebrows as she makes no move to take the note from him and instead pulls out a note of her own. "Already done."

Jiraiya stares at her with a surprised expression but takes the paper to read the information.

"You Nara are something else." Jiraiya laughs as he pockets the note in one of his pouches. "How did you know?"

"Father is in a council to deal with managing the village in the absence of a Hokage, he was also involved in the meeting where a successor was chosen."

"And Tsunade was a wild guess?"

"No." Shizuka huffed, her tone conveying that she had taken offence to the statement. "The way I see it there are about just four people arguments would be made for."

She paused and held up four fingers, lowering one at a time as she went through the list.

"Hatake Kakashi, Fourth's student, famous and respected throughout the nations. Shimura Danzō, as much as I hate it, experienced. You and Tsunade, two of the Sannin, students of the third."

Shizuka lowered her hand and crossed her arms, giving the man in front of her a once over with a judgy smirk on her lips.

"Kakashi while a candidate in the future, right now it would be no good. Danzō… Well, don't think I need an explanation there. You aren't the type, which leaves her."

"Some would argue your father could be on that list."

"As if." The Nara snorted, her eyes twinkling in amusement at the idea. "If father ever took the hat I'd retire the same day."

"Alright, but the meetings happened yesterday evening, how did you get a response so fast?"

"I sent in the request the day of the invasion." Shizuka shrugged, her eyes sweeping across the street to make sure no one was paying too much attention.

"Took them three days to get the information, wasn't hard, all they had to do was follow the loan shark and the woman full of debt."

Jiraiya groaned but nodded in acceptance to her explanation.

"Thank you, this should get me at least on her trail."

"Good luck." Shizuka nodded waved the man goodbye before turning to continue on her way to her boyfriend's apartment.

As she moved through the village she observed the groups of people working on clearing up the debris and fixing the buildings that had been damaged.

' _Extensive damage, it'll be a while before everything is truly back to normal.'_

"Genma, I'm here!" Shizuka calls as she removes her shoes, lining them up beside her boyfriend's sandals. "What do you need me to do?"

"Hey, doe. Start chopping those ingredients, I've washed them already." Genma smiles as she enters the kitchen while pulling her hair into a ponytail. "What did Kakashi want?"

"Ah, he wanted to talk about Sasuke's training." Shizuka exhales deeply. "Ever since the second round, Sasuke's attitude just got worse."

Genma hummed and turned to the pot in front of him to get started on the rice. They worked in silence for a few minutes, but the peaceful atmosphere is interrupted by a wince from Genma.

"Hey, what's wrong." Shizuka stepped to his side, her hand running down his back as he pulled some plates from the top shelf.

"I got knocked down by some debris from the base explosion." Genma whispered, turning around that he could loop his arms around Shizuka and pull her into his chest. "I'm just a little sore."

"I didn't know you were going into ANBU duties that day…"

"I wasn't supposed to, but my squad was a member down after Viper got injured in the invasion." The man ran his hands down Shizuka's spine laughing softly as she sighed and leaned further against him. "Come on, let's finish cooking."

Shizuka leaned up and gave him a soft kiss before dancing out of his arms when he reached to pull her close again. With a teasing look over her shoulder, she continued chopping the ingredients for their lunch.

Once all the ingredients were ready they started putting them in the oven tray with some seasoning over the top to add some flavour.

While they waited for the dishes to cook they settled on the couch, wrapped in each other's arms as they talked softly about whatever came to mind.

"People have been asking me when you're coming to the barbeque." Shizuka murmured as Genma tugged at the elastic holding her ponytail together.

"When is the next one happening?" Genma threw the elastic in a random direction before running his hands through Shizuka's hair.

"In a month, but it may be pushed back a bit more." Shizuka sighed, her eyes fluttering closed as he continued to massage her scalp. "And Daichi-Oji wants to meet you."

"Ah, I finally get the honour of meeting the Bloody Shadow." Genma teased chuckling slightly as Shizuka pinched his arm. "Dinner at your place this week then?"

"Ha, and we should invite your mother too. She'll help Ka-San keep order." Shizuka reached up to tug at Genma's hair, that was free from the confines of his regular bandana. "You're good at this."

"Head scratching?"

"Hm…" Shizuka's eyes fell closed again, a small smile tugging at her lips as she felt Genma's chuckle. "Cuddling in general."

"Let's keep that between us. I do have a reputation to uphold."

Shizuka opened her mouth but paused, her hazel eyes blinking open to meet his brown.

"Too late…"

Genma narrowed his eyes and was about to question who she had told, but was interrupted by the alarm from the over signifying that the food had finished cooking.

Taking the excuse to move away, Shizuka jumped up from the couch and moved to get everything ready for their lunch. From behind her, she heard Genma's quiet footsteps as he followed her into the kitchen.

"Why don't you set the table while I get the food."

"On it." Shizuka answered with a smile and a small kiss to his jaw as she moved to collect the two plates Genma had pulled down earlier.

She was carrying over two cups of water when a familiar signature brushed against hers. At first, she froze and immediately after she spread her senses to confirm that she wasn't just imagining it.

She must've made some sound because Genma stepped out of the kitchen in a hurry, his eyes scanning her up in down before he grasped her shoulders.

"Doe?" Genma his eyes searched hers, his expression morphing into one of concern as he saw how pale she had turned.

"I need to go. Stay here, don't follow." Shizuka rushed to the door and hastily pulled on her boots.

"Shizuka, what's-" Genma was a step behind her already reaching for his shoes when she slapped his hands away.

"Please, Gen, do _not_ follow me." Shizuka pleaded with him before shunshining away, barely catching him growling out her name.

It took her no time to reach the river, her senses already mapping out the situation before she could even lay eyes on the scene.

When she landed in front of Asuma who was gripping his bleeding arm she was already flying through handsigns while the giant blue-skinned man swung his sword straight at them.

' _No time to get my tantōs… Just hope this works.'_ The Nara grits her teeth and prepared herself for what was to come.

She bent her knees and pushed chakra into her feet, her head tilting upwards to meet the eyes of the Kiri ninja.

Within the next few seconds, all hell broke loose.

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments!**

 **Afrodity**

Thank you! It took me much longer than what I expected but I got it done :D Already typing up the next one! Makes me very happy to know you've enjoyed it!

 **Made from broken hearts**

Hello again! Thank you! I enjoyed writing it, even if it was harder to compile the necessary events into the chapter. Hahaha and I'll thank you again in virtual bear hugs

 **Candice**

Hello again! Thank you for the kind words :D I'm glad you're enjoying the story! I love writing those little moments it helps me imagine the characters better when I give them a full background. Haha its definitely something Shizuka would use in her favour, I guess you'll just have to wait and see.

 **AquilaPallas129**

Thank you! Makes me very happy to hear this! :D

 **Thanks for the comments!**

 **xx**


	40. The Return

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter and for the long for this one! I had to rewrite the fight several times until I was satisfied, so I hope you all enjoy!**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 40 - The Return**

Looking back on how she approached this fight, Shizuka could probably have thought through it better.

Maybe jumping in front of the Kiri shinobi's blade wasn't the most effective manner to tackle the situation, but by the time that crossed her mind, she was already there.

Before she even made eye contact with the giant blue-skinned man her instincts were screaming at her to dodge the massive spiky blade and yet she found her feet firmly planted in place.

She felt the blade cut into the top of her shoulder, tearing through her clothes and skin with sickening ease before being halted by an unseen force.

" **Kage Nui no Jutsu"** _(Art of Shadow Stitching)_ Shizuka huffed in exertion as Kisame scowled at the sting of her shadows wrapped around his blade that continued to his body where it pierced his skin.

Now, the man was much larger than she had estimated and it threw her aim off by a bit. The tendril didn't directly puncture any organs she had been hoping to hit and had merely cut into his side. To make it worse, she didn't even have time to rectify the issue because Itachi decided to step in and cover his partner.

Gritting her teeth she pushed through the pain of moving her arm and mentally cursed her decision to leave her tantōs at home as she drew one of the few kunai she had on her person.

'Damnit, I wasn't exactly planning on a fight like this.' Shizuka scowled as she pushed back against Itachi bearing down on her, her right blade shaking as the strength in her arm faltered.

Her eyes had instinctively fallen to the middle of his chest where she couldn't meet his eyes accidentally. She had no time to question Itachi's decision to interfere as he relentlessly attacked her not allowing her time to do anything but defend herself.

For a few seconds, it was like their last training session again. Itachi pushing down on her while she tried to keep up, her injured right shoulder keeping her from working with both of her blades to the best of her ability.

Her speed allowed her to stay out of range of any serious injuries but didn't spare her from a medley of scratches and a few decent cuts to her legs or arms. And despite knowing the timing of Itachi's strikes and the ideal points for her to strike she hadn't managed to land a single blow. It frustrated her that even knowing the man's patterns as well as she did it still wasn't enough.

' _And he's not going full out either… What the hell is his plan?'_ Shizuka mentally growled as the Uchiha attacked her right side once more, the kunai once again shaking as she couldn't keep up with the man's strength.

The momentary weakness was all Itachi needed to disarm one of her hands before landing a kick to her chest which sent her skidding backwards towards Asuma and Kurenai.

As she regained her footing she stuck her remaining kunai back into the hidden sheath up her sleeve and wove more handsigns for shadow manipulation, the shadows at her feet darkening and stretching towards her target.

Unfortunately, Itachi was well aware of her abilities and didn't try to re-engage upon seeing the handsigns and instead launched a fireball in her direction. With not enough time to use the water bullet jutsu, she jumped to the side only to be met with the shape of the Kiri nin swinging his sword down on her again.

"Got to give it to ya, pipsqueak, you're fast." Kisame smirked as Shizuka parried his blade once she pulled out the same kunai again.

"And you're stupid for falling for the same trick twice." Shizuka allowed a smirk to tug at her lips as her eyes moved from his face down to where tendrils of shadows had crept under his blade towards his shoulder. **"Kage–Kubishibari no Jutsu"** _(Shadow Strangulation Jutsu)_

"You let them go!" Kisame growled as a shadowy hand crept towards his neck.

"She's the Nara heiress, annoyingly fast and crafty with her shadows. You are a bad match as the shadow of your blade gives her easy access." Itachi drawled, his quiet monotonous voice sounding loudly in the brief silence.

This time around Itachi didn't need to interfere as Kisame's sword bulged and cut cleanly through the shadows before he changed its course to hit Shizuka.

"Well, she should have gone straight for the kill, Samehada eats chakra." The giant man smirked as the girl jumped back to avoid getting hit and used her time in the air to weave handsigns. "Got you now!"

" **Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu"** _(Water Style: Shark Bomb)_

Landing safely beside the newest arrival, Shizuka sent Kakashi a side look.

"What took you so long?"

"You're welcome, Tiny." Kakashi drawled as he offered her an extra kunai. "You'll be needing this."

Humming in thanks the four Konoha shinobi reassembled as they faced off against the two rogues.

"Now, what brings two S-Class rogue ninjas like you to the village?" Kakashi asked in position to react to any threats and headband pushed up revealing his Sharingan.

"You tree huggers multiply so quickly I can barely keep up." Kisame spoke up with a teasing undertone. "And now that must be Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-Cat Ninja."

Both ninjas shifted their stance, their bodies tensing in preparation to attack, but before either could make the first move the monotonous voice of the Uchiha rose up again.

"Fighting him would come at a cost, not to mention we don't have time." Itachi sent his partner a look and took the time to put the kunai he had used previously away. "We have a job to do, don't lose sight of it."

"And what would that be?" Kakashi asked again, his eyes narrowing on their former comrade, his posture still visibly tensed for a fight.

"We are looking for something…" Itachi paused and the leaf quartet tensed in preparation for the projectiles that appeared in his hand, but what they got wasn't what they expected.

"Water jutsu, watch it!" Shizuka growled as she formed a wall of shadows around the four of them as several small water dragons launched towards them.

As the walls withstood the pounding of the water, Kurenai gasped as the walls wavered momentarily before solidifying once more once Kakashi moved to step into the shadow at Shizuka's feet, Asuma quickly following suit.

Giving the men a nod in thanks Shizuka stood up straighter with her hands still clasped in the rat sign.

"The projectiles in his hand were a distraction to attack with the jutsu." Kurenai stated, her head turned towards the shadow barrier as she tried and failed to see through it.

"His speed is off the charts, I didn't even see handsigns." Asuma growled as the sound died down and the shadows pooled at the ground where they belonged.

"He made ANBU captain at thirteen. This isn't half of what he can do." Kakashi growled, his eyes focusing once again on the man in question. "Shizuka, keep an eye out for any jutsus we can't see, Kurenai same for genjutsu, Asuma be ready to back me up."

The path they had stood on now covered by water and with their orders, they settled into a more appropriate formation. For a moment nothing happened and then Itachi spoke up again, his quiet voice almost drowned out as the wind picked up.

"As decent as your abilities with the Sharingan are you will never match that of a true Uchiha." Itachi closed his eyes and Shizuka felt his chakra sharpen and focus.

"He's building chakra in his eyes." She whispered, her eyes still fixed on her former sparring partner's chest. "Senpai-"

"Close your eyes now! Whatever happens, don't look." Kakashi panted as he got trapped in whatever jutsu Itachi was casting.

For several seconds the only sound heard was the rushing water and the ragged breaths of Kakashi as he suffered under what Shizuka assumed to be a very powerful Sharingan Genjutsu.

"What's happening?" Kurenai asked, her eyes clenched firmly shut and one kunai clasped tightly in her hand.

"It's a visual genjutsu cast by the Sharingan, eye contact is required. Kakashi might be able to withstand it better because of his Sharingan."

"Fast analysis, as expected of the Nara clan." Itachi spoke again just before Kakashi fell to his knees. "But still not enough."

Shizuka grit her teeth and kneeled next to Kakashi, opening her eyes to look at him.

"I know what this is about, but you won't be able to keep up." She whispered, her eyes darting back and forth between Kakashi and their opponents' feet.

"Is it Sasuke you're looking for?"

"Kakashi, that's not-" Shizuka was interrupted as Kakashi continued speaking to Itachi.

"No, it's the Fourth Hokage's legacy."

"Your little group, the nine rogue shinobi who call themselves the Akatsuki. How would _that_ be of use to you?"

"Damnit, Kakashi you'll get yourself killed." Shizuka growled as she stood up and stepped partially in front of the still kneeling Kakashi, her eyes fixated on the feet of their opponents.

She barely had time to react to Itachi's order for Kisame to eliminate the three of them and capture Kakashi before the blue giant attacked them at full speed.

Sensing another incoming signature she took a step back and grasped at the back of Kakashi's vest, holding him up as he slumped in exhaustion. As she moved him to get his arm around her shoulder she tapped Asuma on the arm.

"Keep your eyes closed, I'll pass Kakashi to you. Get him out of here. Kurenai go with them and get help. Ideally ANBU but at this point, I'm not too picky."

"But-" Kurenai started protesting but Shizuka simply tapped her arm as Asuma took Kakashi's full weight from her shoulders.

"Relax. Gai and I are both familiar with fighting against the Sharingan, we know how to avoid it." Shizuka glanced over her shoulder as Kisame regained his footing after being kicked away by Gai's signature entrance move. "Only open your eyes once you've turned around. We have your backs covered, but don't delay."

Asuma huffed out a curse but ended up grunting his acceptance to the plan and Kurenai gave an uncertain nod. Satisfied with their acceptance Shizuka turned back around to stand beside Gai while taking a deep breath and focusing her mind.

"Who do you want, Itachi? Personally, I have some unfinished business with pipsqueak over there." Kisame's shark-like grin was a bit unsettling but she didn't have time to come up with a witty comeback as Itachi once again interfered.

"No. We've wasted too much time already. Let's move out."

Kisame narrowed his eyes but easily deferred to his partner and after strapping his blade to his back they disappeared in a shunshin.

"Let's regroup with the others, I have a feeling this isn't over just yet." Gai gestured down the path towards the village centre.

* * *

Not even twenty minutes later the five Jōnin that had confronted the Akatsuki members were inside Kakashi's room in his small apartment.

"They haven't found Naruto and now that he is with Jiraiya he should be safe." Gai sat on a low stool as he contemplated the situation. "Shizuka, what information do you have?"

"That isn't classified? Not much." She sighed as she sat crossed-legged on the floor with her back against the wall. "Akatsuki has nine S-Rank members. They wear black cloaks with red clouds… I can name the members I know, but not much else since its an active task force."

"Why Naruto?" Asuma piped up for the first time since they had gathered in the room. "And why did it take them so long?"

Shizuka chewed on her lip as the three Jōnin focused on her while she contemplated what to share with them. Letting out a sigh, she decided to let them in on a little more information considering what they already knew.

"We have reports that they are stealing jutsus from all over the five nations, it makes sense that they need a large chakra source."

"You don't sound too convinced that's their true purpose." Asuma pointed out, his eyes narrowing on the girl as she let her head fall back against the wall.

"Can't reveal working theories." Shizuka shook her head, making it clear that would be one line she wouldn't cross.

Kurenai was about to speak but Shizuka put her hand up silencing whatever the woman was about to say.

"Kakashi-" Sasuke opened the door abruptly and looked around the room with a suspicious glance, his eyes darting between the Jōnin as he expected an explanation. "Why is he asleep? And why are the four of you just sitting around his bed?"

"Not much, just sparring session got a bit out of hand." Gai waved away the boy's question and Shizuka held in a groan as the boy levelled them with an unimpressed stare.

Before any of them could speak up and offer their comments to support the excuse Aoba poked his head in and immediately sought out Shizuka.

"Tiny, is it true Uchiha Itachi was here in the village? And that he was targeting Naruto? Gotta report it to-"

Shizuka facepalmed as Sasuke spun around to glare at the male Tokujō before sprinting out the door.

"Idiot." Kurenai slapped the back of Aoba's head as he realised what had just happened.

"Gai, let's go." Shizuka pushed herself to stand and moved to Kakashi's closet where she pulled out an extra kunai pouch and hip pouch. "These will do. Someone let my father know, I'd at least like to try to get ahead of this news reaching him."

Strapping the pouch to her thigh and hip she cast one last glance around the room before leaving through the door, making sure to give Aoba a particularly bad shock as she passed.

She heard Gai snort as the man yelped and soon they were both running out of the village. As they left the gate they found that ANBU patrol at the gates had been increased already, probably due to their latest visitors.

"Nara Shizuka, state your purpose."

"Unsanctioned pursuit of Uchiha Sasuke and message delivery to Jiraiya of the Sannin." Shizuka replied as she and Gai were stopped by the ANBU on duty.

"Village is on high alert due to Uchiha Itachi's infiltration, no one in or out."

"Fine, I'll sanction this mission under T&I task force codenamed Ebony with immediate deployment of Maito Gai and Nara Shizuka." Shizuka narrowed her eyes on the captain of the team who hesitated for a few moments before giving them a stiff nod and signalling his squad to allow them through.

"I'll be informing Jackal, Nara Shikaku-San and Yamanaka Inoichi-San of your sanction. Good luck."

Giving the man an annoyed look for the unnecessary delay he just caused and continued on the path Sasuke had taken. She didn't glance back to check on Gai's reaction and was thankful for his lack of questioning on the matter.

"They'll be in the little town just outside the village, it'll be hell to find Sasuke or Itachi but Kisame and Naruto have too much chakra to conceal." Shizuka explained as they ran, her eyes trained ahead as her senses spread towards their destination. "ETA five minutes."

The remainder of their journey was silent although the sounds coming from the village started growing louder as they approached. With no time to dwell on the overload, Shizuka locked onto Naruto's signature and quickly led the way through the crowded streets.

' _Damnit Sasuke reached them already, I had hoped he would take longer to locate them. And that chakra fluctuation, it's the Chidori…'_ Shizuka mentally groaned as they entered the street, civilians starting to move away from the building due to the noise coming from inside.

"Shit." Shizuka jumped up to avoid the debris from the exploding wall and used the new opening as a shortcut to the destination.

As she entered Sasuke yelled in pain and Kisame's sword cut through the Kyūbi chakra Naruto was exuding.

"Perhaps we should cut off his arms first." Kisame smirked as he swung his sword down towards Naruto who was frozen in shock at having his chakra absorbed.

"Hello again, it's been a while since I jumped in front of your sword." Shizuka grinned as she parried the sword with one of Kakashi's kunai.

"Oh look, Pipsqueak is here." The blue-skinned man scowled as he changed his grip on the massive sword to a double-handed one to push down harder on Shizuka's frame. "What no shadows this time?"

"Nah, I've got back up this time around. It would be too boring otherwise." Gritting her teeth to hide a grimace as her arms started to give way under the strain.

"Backup?"

Shizuka grinned as Gai landed a dynamic entry kick to Kisame's stomach, sending him sliding down the corridor and into the wall.

While his partner was sent flying Itachi barely moved a muscle other than turning to observe the Nara heiress.

"I've had enough of you two." Kisame growled as he stood up and pointed his sword at them. "Since we have the time I'm killing them now, Itachi."

"Gai is great and all, but he's not the only backup I have." Shizuka nodded cheerfully at the figure coming in from the hole in the wall.

"You two made such a simple mistake…" Jiraiya's form towered over her and Naruto his gaze quickly assessing the situation. "I seduce the ladies, not the other way around."

Resisting the urge to facepalm, Shizuka took the moment to tug Naruto further down the corridor away from the rogue ninja, her eyes momentarily falling on Sasuke's form in front of Itachi.

Naruto, however, had no qualms in calling Jiraiya out on his bullshit but a single glare from Shizuka had him widening his eyes and quieting down.

"Neh, Shizuka-Nee how do you do that with the shadows?"

"Family trait." Shizuka huffed out as she turned to face the other people in the hallway. "We know you want the host of you-know-what but there is no way you're getting him. "

"At least this is very convenient that I can eliminate two pins of the source of my headache in one go." Jiraiya mused only to have his attention turned to Sasuke's movement.

"No. I'm the one that will be killing Itachi." The boy's legs were shaking as he pushed himself to stand, anger and hatred boiling within his chakra.

"Sasuke now is not the time. Naruto, stay back." Shizuka growled, one hand shoving Naruto back behind her as he tried to step around to see what his teammate was doing.

Sasuke decided to ignore her and attacked Itachi head-on, only to be kicked back to the floor. Jiraiya's feet shifted to interfere, but Kisame took a few steps to pass the brothers' and block the Sannin's path.

"This is Uchiha business, let them have their reunion."

Shizuka shared a grim look with Gai as Itachi landed another punch and kick to his brother before gripping his neck against the wall.

' _Shit! It's the same jutsu he got Kakashi with.'_ Shizuka's eyes widened in realisation before she shifted to stand next to Jiraiya as Sasuke started screaming in anguish.

"That's it. No more just waiting for this to end." Naruto used her movement away from him to sprint down the hallway towards Itachi and his brother, completely ignoring the other rogue ninja who shifted his attention from Jiraiya to him the moment he started running.

"Shizuka, move!" Jiraiya yelled as he started making handsigns, his eyes focused on the enemy.

Taking immediate action, Shizuka shunshined to Naruto and pushed him towards out of range of the sword and getting new scraped to the back of her shoulder blades.

Spinning on her heels she made sure to keep Naruto behind her as she faced off Kisame for what felt like the hundredth time.

" **Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari"** _(Ninja Art: Toad Mouth Trap)_

As she noticed Sasuke's body partially disappearing into the fleshy walls of the inn and a glance at Jiraiya to confirm it was safe, she gave Naruto a quick apologetic smile before gently shoving him into the wall, allowing it to swallow him too.

"Good, now stay still, let me handle these two. They are already trapped." Jiraiya sent a pulse of chakra into the floor, the fleshy surface responding by attacking the two Akatsuki members.

"Kisame." Itachi's voice was as calm as it ever was, and the underlying order was clear: retreat.

They disappeared around the corner and for a moment Shizuka allowed herself to believe Jiraiya's jutsu would get them, but the burst of chakra and the explosion that followed made her vision collapse.

As the Toad Sannin sprinted in the direction the two rogues went by, Shizuka gave Gai a warning look to stay and watch the two Genin before following.

"Jiraiya-San, what's happened to-"

The man in question stuck his hand out to keep her from approaching the black flames burning around the gap in the wall.

"Don't get close to the flames."

The man pulled out a blank scroll and scribbled down several lines of Fūinjutsu before sealing the black flames with a pulse of chakra.

"I'll keep this with me, but I'm going to need you to help me out with some research."

"Jiraiya, I don't-"

"I need you to get some of the Spectrum to collect information on the Akatsuki. Last you told me you had names for most of them?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"I need everything you can get on them. Village documents, sightings, hell every rumour you have of them will be useful."

"The Spectrum is civilian! They are good but this type of information and on individuals of this level means it would take years to compile this type of information!"

"But that information may very well be what keeps Naruto and the village safe."

"Do you think we have that amount of time?" Shizuka questioned as they started to walk back towards the others, the lining of the wall slowly returning to the original inn's wooden walls.

"I don't know, but I _do_ know how to buy us that time." Jiraiya gave her a long look before they turned the last corner. "Can you get me direct access to the Spectrum?"

"They probably won't take orders from you, but I can make them send a copy of the information directly to you so you don't have to wait on my reports." Shizuka sighed before shrugging, when you get back I'll have it set up."

"Pervy-Sage! Sasuke isn't responding he's in a coma!"

"Shizuka, is it the same jutsu?" Gai asked as he knelt next to the Uchiha.

"Hai." As she approached and knelt next to them, she waved her fingers in front of Sasuke's unblinking eyes. Feeling the questioning looks on her back she continued. "It's a powerful genjutsu that damaged the mind. His body can be easily healed in the village, but his mind will need someone more _specialised_."

"Good thing we're already on their trail."

"No! We need to go after these people!" Naruto yelled as he clenched his fist and glared at the white-haired ninja. "They want me right!? So they won't stop, so we need to finish them first!"

"Naruto, that's not how things work." Shizuka sighed as she stood up and helped Gai put Sasuke on his back so that he could carry the boy back.

"She's right. Even your sensei would be hard-pressed to fight these people, you aren't even in their league." Jiraiya narrowed his eyes as the boy moved to speak up again. "Enough! Your teammate needs medical attention he won't get here and even then it seems the only person who can truly help him is the one we're supposed to find."

"Huh? So that's who you are in search of!" Gai's eyes widened as Jiraiya smirked at him.

"I wish you all the luck on that." Shizuka smirked as she gestured to the gap in the wall. "Have fun following the debt! Let's go, Gai. We really need to get Sasuke to the hospital."

"Hai, let's go." Gai followed her as she gave the two shinobi staying behind a quick wave before they both leapt through the gap in the wall and immediately ran back towards home.

* * *

The run back to the village was thankfully uneventful. Gai carried the unconscious Sasuke back and they kept a fast pace the entire way, allowing them to arrive before sunset.

Once they reached the gate the first thing she noticed was that there weren't only two Chūnin waiting there. This time there was also an ANBU member standing in the middle of the path.

"Nara-San, the Jōnin Commander has summoned you to his office immediately." Horse called out as soon as they were close enough.

"Alright, thank you." Shizuka grimaced as she watched Horse disappear in a shunshin the second after he had her confirmation. "Gai, take Sasuke to the hospital, I'll brief my father."

"Good luck." Gai gave her a strained nod before launching to the roofs, intent on reaching the hospital quickly.

"What the hell did you do now, Tiny?" Kotetsu asked, his eyes scanning over her bloodied form as he filled in the logbook for entries into the village.

"It doesn't matter." Shizuka sighed as she gave the two Chūnin on duty a pained smile. "I'll see you two around."

She ran the way to her father's office, his secretary waving her in as soon as he saw her enter the office space. The man, a civilian born Chūnin gave her a hesitant smile as she passed his desk, probably in the know to the disaster that was that afternoon. Even before she had entered the building she could already sense the roiling anger in her father's chakra.

She knocked softly on the door to announce her entry, but it was a mere formality as she knew her father knew it was her.

Stepping into the office she was greeted by the sight of her father leaning on the desk with his chin resting on his clasped hands and eyes closed, a forgotten report scroll open on the desk in front of him.

She walked further into the room and closed the door quietly behind her before moving to stand in front of the desk. For a few moments, neither spoke and that alone clued her into just how angry he was.

"What the hell were you thinking?" His eyes snapped open and narrowed on her, but she didn't move, she held his gaze and clasped her hands behind her back. "Uchiha Itachi AND Hoshigaki Kisame, really?"

"It was only Asuma and Kurenai against two S-Rank rogue nin there was no time to do anything else."

"You have summons, use them."

"I needed time and summoning would cost chakra I would definitely need in the fight."

Her father stared at her with a deadpan expression letting her know that he didn't buy her excuse for a second.

"Not good enough." He finally said, his clasped hands falling to the desk as he unwaveringly kept eye contact. "You made a choice, I understand. And although no one died, it wasn't the best choice, surely you can see that."

"They let themselves be seen." Shizuka relaxed her stance a bit, her gaze dropping to the floor stopping for a moment fixate on the splatter of blood on her shin just above where her boots ended. "They managed to enter the village without sounding the alarm… Why would they not conceal themselves?"

That made Shikaku intensify his look, his eyebrows furrowing as his daughter continued to avoid his eyes.

"They were."

"I sensed them, easily. I wasn't even looking…" Shizuka finally looked up, before sighing. "If they wanted to cause damage they would have concealed themselves better. Itachi knows how to trick me, but he didn't."

"So the damage wasn't their main goal." Shikaku concluded as he kept his gaze fixed on his daughter who shifted from foot to foot anxiously. "Information, then."

Shizuka moved to clasp her hands in front of her while tapping the tips of her thumbs as she contemplated the situation.

"Maybe we missed their entrance and they had already gotten the information they needed and were on their way out, but even then…"

"They wouldn't have revealed themselves until after they left the walls." Shikaku concluded, a frown tugging at his lips. "Unless they _wanted_ to be seen."

A tense silence followed Shikaku's statement and the two kept their eyes locked before the clan head slumped back in his chair, one hand reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"You will write a report on _everything_ and give it to me directly by tomorrow. You also need to write the mission request for task force Ebony since you asked for it."

"Hai." Shizuka gave him a short bow before relaxing her stance completely. "May I be dismissed?"

Her father's eyes met hers again and he nodded, waving her off. Spinning on her heel she moved towards the door, but as she reached to open them, her father's voice called out again.

"You might want to talk to Genma, he's the one that reached me first."

Shizuka squeezed the doorknob and glanced over her shoulder to see her father pick up the report scroll on his desk again.

"The details have been kept under wraps, but he will find out eventually if he hasn't already."

She nodded briefly even if he wasn't looking at her and left the office, giving her father's secretary a nod before quickly leaving the building, her senses already spread in search of her boyfriend.

She found him exactly where she left him, in his apartment but before the building even came into view, she could sense that his chakra was pulsing with unease and a bit of anger.

She hovered outside his door for a few minutes after arriving, considering the option of simply coming back the next day, but she knew that would only make it worse.

After knocking on the door she only had to wait a few moments before the man in question showed up. His hair was out of its regular bandana and by its messy state she knew he had probably run his hands through it a few times, something she knew he did when he was stressed.

"Hey." She whispered, her eyes darting between his and the inside of his apartment. "Can we talk, please?"

Genma swallowed, the senbon in his mouth bobbing up in down a few times before he opened the door further and stepped aside, giving her room to enter the apartment.

She took her shoes off as Genma disappeared into the kitchen, the sounds of him pulling out some cups of tea filling the empty silence.

Shizuka entered the kitchen hesitantly but Genma didn't turn to look at her and instead kept his focus on the kettle of water on the stove.

"I'm sorry I left like that. I-" Shizuka sighed and crossed her arms before shifting her weight between her legs as she thought on how to proceed with this conversation. "I sensed Itachi and his partner enter the village, I wasn't looking for it but I guess I'm still on alert and I didn't think-"

She realised she was speaking faster than she was thinking about what to say and let out a breath before slowing down and continuing.

"I'm sorry, but I needed to know what was happening. After everything…"

She trailed off again and Genma exhaled loudly before spinning around and leaning on the counter with his arms crossed as he stared at her.

Shizuka's hair was all over the place and she still wore her bloody clothes from her fight.

"Why did you ask me to stay behind? You needed backup."

"Gen you can barely reach the top shelf without wincing." Shizuka uncrossed her arms and slowly stepped forward so that she could place her hand over his ribs he had hurt, giving it a light tap. "Would've been a distraction."

The last part was whispered before she snapped her head up to look him in the eye.

"I didn't tell you what was going on because I was caught off guard... The fact that they got into the village it- it got to me." She continued slowly, taking a step back as Genma moved to serve the tea.

Genma put two cups on a tray and gestured her out of the kitchen and towards the living room, watching her leave before turning back to the stove.

Shizuka placed the tray on the small table next to the couch, lifting one of the cups to her lips as she sat with her legs tucked under her, waiting for the Tokujō to join her.

He came a minute later with another tray with hot food which he lay in her lap once she sat up properly. As she glanced at the dishes in front of her she realised it was the meal they were supposed to have for lunch and was now going to be her dinner.

"I assume you haven't had anything to eat so…" Genma explained quietly as he picked up his cup of tea before sitting next to her, not close enough to touch but enough that she still felt his warmth next to her.

"Thank you." She offered him a smile and he answered with a quirk of his lips before he started to sip his tea. "Itadakimasu."

She silently started eating and Genma made no move to start a conversation either even after he finished his tea. The Nara snuck glances at him between bites but he was looking at the ceiling, his usual senbon making a reappearance as he relaxed on the couch deep in thought.

It was only when Shizuka set aside her tray of food and turned to look at him fully that he spoke up on what was going on in his mind.

"What you did today was terrible." His tone was flat and Shizuka chewed on her lip nervously as he continued. "Not because you asked me to stay behind, I can almost understand that, but because you didn't tell me what was going on."

He paused again to run his fingers through his hair and if they hadn't been having such a serious conversation she would have chuckled at the sight of his hair becoming even messier than it was before.

" _This-"_ He gestured between the two of them. "It'll only work if we _talk._ In the field and at home. All you needed to do was say a word, but you didn't. You _chose_ to run off without talking to me."

"Gen-"

"No, wait. Let me finish." He raised his hand to halt her from talking and paused for a moment further before continuing. "I know getting caught off guard like that throws you sensors for a loop, but not all of us can process things as fast as you."

"I'm sorry." Shizuka's tone was bland but her eyes still shined with the truth behind her words. "You're right, I shouldn't have just run off. I didn't think any of it through."

She gave him a moment to see if he would say anything else and when he didn't she spoke up again.

"I thought you'd be angrier."

"I was." Genma gave her a deadpan look before removing the senbon from his mouth and tugging her closer to him so that he could kiss her temple. "And then I was nervous, scared and angry again as I heard what happened."

"And then?"

"Then your father and I talked."

"Oh?" Shizuka couldn't keep the surprised look from her face. "How did he help?"

"He explained some things." Genma shrugged and gave her a small squeeze. "Just, don't do it again."

"I won't." She leaned up and planted a kiss on the corner of his lips and then she melted into his embrace. "Mind if I take a nap before going home?"

"You avoiding your mom?" Genma snorted as he shuffled them so that they were lying across his couch.

"And my uncle." Shizuka yawned and closed her eyes.

"You could just stay the night." Genma watched her carefully but she didn't react other than a small content smile twitching at her lips.

"Tempting, but I have to face the music eventually."

"Alright, wake me up and I'll walk you home." He gave her another squeeze when she moved to protest and then a comfortable silence settled between them as they drifted off for a much-needed nap.

* * *

Three days after being all but shackled to her desk with the amount of paperwork her father, Jackal and Inoichi had dumped on her, she was finally out of the village for a mission.

Not that the actual mission was any better.

"I swear if any other idiot decides to mess up my senses my uncle will lose his moniker of the Bloody Shadow." Shizuka growled as she pulled her tantō out of another body.

"Is it just me or is grumpy Chipmunk even cuter than sleepy Chipmunk?" Ape grinned as he landed beside her, his mask speckled with dried and fresh blood.

"Maybe it's her-"

"Do NOT finish that sentence." Shizuka growled and the faint sound of electricity crackled threateningly in the small clearing they had created in the forest.

"One more group eliminated. How many does that leave us?" Cat ignored their bickering as he started searching the bodies for anything useful to seal to take back to Konoha.

"Well, there were six groups of Oto shinobi loitering around our borders, but two of them broke into two smaller groups and one into three-"

"There were ten groups and with three groups down we have seven left." Mantis interrupted Shizuka's rambling, the Aburame ignoring Shizuka's offended huff.

"Alright, let's clean this up and erase any evidence. We'll track the next one through the night and rest before we take them down." Cat didn't wait for their agreements before moving to the next body.

The procedure of cleaning up was simple and mind-numbing. With the bodies sealed separately from anything else that was deemed remotely valuable, they cleaned up the area with water, earth and fire jutsus as required.

Once everything was in place the five of them leapt away in their standard formation. With Shizuka taking point to guide them to their next targets, Grizzly and Ape flanking her, Mantis in the middle and Cat bringing up the rear.

It was a comfortable formation and versatile for whatever type of mission they were sent on and thus rarely altered unless they had different members or due to any injuries.

It took them a mere half an hour to find the next group of Oto shinobi.

Their mission briefing had been simple: eliminate and gather intel A-Rank. The high ranking was due to the number of opponents they would be facing and the relatively small time frame they were given.

It could also be because each member of her squad had at least one assassination target they had to handle on their way across the country. While Shizuka and Tenzō had two targets each much to their happiness.

As previously planned, they stopped to rest just before confronting the next group. The five ANBU crouched in a small circle to discuss their tactic before the ambush.

"This group is smaller than the last three, only fifteen shinobi. Weakest member is probably a mid-Chūnin and highest one has the chakra of a decent powered Jōnin." Shizuka explained as she focused her senses on the group away from them. "Split is pretty even, eight Chūnin and seven Jōnin."

"So, half the numbers but better quality." Grizzly nodded along with Shizuka's analysis.

"Anything to watch out for?" Cat asked as deliberated on their condition and the possibilities of how they could handle the situation.

"One guy has a really unstable pattern to his chakra, he's also the strongest one there. He might be a bit high up in the chain of command, I'd try to incapacitate him instead of straight out killing."

"Alright, Mantis you and Chipmunk go for him first, shadows and kikaichū to knock him unconscious while we deal with the rest."

"Oh! Shizuka, how far is the group from the village of Takayama?"

"About forty minutes run, your target there?"

"Hai! Mantis, I believe it's your turn to keep watch for me?" Ape shrugged and patted the younger man on the shoulder. "Then all that's left are Chip's two targets, Cat-Taichō's second target and Grizzly's single one! That's almost half-way done with the assassinations!"

"While we are on that subject. How much longer are we getting multi-objective missions?" Shizuka groaned as she shifted her feet to sit crossed legged on the branch instead of crouching. "They are way too troublesome to deal with. And the reports…"

Grizzly and Ape snorted at the suppressed shiver that ran through her body while Cat and Mantis shook their heads at them.

"You're just traumatised from getting stuck with paperwork after the Itachi fiasco." Grizzly gave her a nudge with his shoulder before he got punched in the shoulder with a light shock by the annoyed kunoichi.

"Oh come on! Does everyone know about that?"

"You know shinobi are terrible gossips, it's even worse within ANBU." Cat nodded sympathetically.

"You know people are claiming favouritism from your father since you only had to do the paperwork and didn't even get a warning on file."

"Wait, not even Jackal?"

"Nope!" Grizzly added cheerfully before leaning over as if to share a secret. "Though I'm pretty sure he only did it because you're on the list for promotion to captain and he's wanted a Nara for ANBU captain ever since your uncle retired."

"What?"

"ANBU captains have monthly meetings for going over plans and rotations. Jackal has wanted a proper strategist for years and he's kept an eye on your for that very reason."

"Joy." Shizuka huffed before tilting her head up to the sky. "Sun is about to set, I'd say attacking in an hour should mean we can finish before the sun rises."

"Then it is set. We move in an hour. Take this time to rest and prepare." Cat gave them a nod before jumping to a different branch to rest.

Mantis and Ape moved away to discuss the assassination they would be on after leaving Bear and Shizuka alone.

"Heard you and Lynx had your first proper fight."

"It was very… subdued." She grimaced and paused to think about what had been said that night. "To be honest I expected him to be angrier… I know I would have been."

"Ah, but you are a little more stubborn than him." Grizzly teased as they watched the silent forest beneath them. "You should have seen him when he stormed into the office after you ran off. You're lucky it was only ANBU and your father. Who knows what the cyclops would have done."

"Why is he even giving out missions to us? I thought he wasn't allowed on ANBU dealings."

"No one knows… But as long as Jackal has increased duties I have a feeling he'll be a more frequent _guest_ in the briefings."

"How fun." Her tone dripped in sarcasm before she exhaled loudly. "You said you saw Lynx storm into the office, what happened?"

"He came in a rush, your father was surprised at first but he seemed to catch on before Lynx even finished explaining." Grizzly shrugged as Shizuka waited for him to continue. "Your father dismissed the ANBU and sealed the room and when they came out your father went to his private office and Lynx was quiet and the anger was gone."

The Nara hummed and the pair fell into silence as they waited for the moment to move out.

When the time came, the group assembled on the ground and with echoing nods they moved quickly and silently through the evening light.

Before the sun had even appeared in the sky the next day sixteen people were dead and before the sun had set another thirty were added to the list that now amounted to one hundred and eight.

By the end of the mission just over a week, later the list reached two hundred and eleven people and Shizuka was starting to see the methodical procedure wasn't only to hide the physical evidence but to protect their sanity.

* * *

Only a day after returning from her latest mission and she was already receiving another one.

This time it was Kurenai who came to her, the more experienced Jōnin going out of her way to find her in the Mind Map room to ask a favour.

"So, you want me to take your three Genin on a tracking mission." Shizuka clarified as she leaned against her desk to observe Kurenai who hadn't moved any further than the door.

"I have another mission where they need a Genjutsu expert so I recommended you to take them. It's only a C-Rank, so it shouldn't be too hard." Kurenai explained as she threw the scroll of the mission at the younger woman. "Details are in there, Team eight will be at the tower in half an hour to meet you."

"Alright, I'll take it." Shizuka smiled and turned to her desk and pulled out a pack giving the black-haired woman a sheepish smile at her raised eyebrow. "I've started leaving a go-bag here since I seem to get called on last minute a lot."

"Not a bad habit to have." Kurenai shook her head and they moved out of the room and towards the stairs. "When things settle down, we are definitely going on that girls' spa day."

Shizuka laughed and nodded before they went in different directions, Kurenai to the gates and Shizuka to the tower.

She was allowed into the mission office as soon as she arrived, at the head desk was Koharu, the older kunoichi looked bored as she went through the stacks of mission scrolls on the desk.

Flanking the councilwoman was Jackal who had an uncharacteristic slump to his shoulders. From what Shizuka was aware the man was taking up more patrols and guard rotations himself to help with their limited numbers following the invasion.

"Nara-San, you're here for Yūhi Kurenai's Team eight mission, correct?"

Giving her two superiors a quick bow before standing straight and sending a quick questioning look to the ANBU commander.

"Hai, I already have seen the parameters. Is there anything else I need to know?" Shizuka made sure to keep her eyes level on the ANBU so that they knew exactly who she was talking to.

"We've gotten some information that Higuchi Jikai was seen in that area not too long ago." Jackal produced a new scroll from his pouch before launching it at the Nara who caught it with a bored expression.

"So, you're telling me the former ANBU who defected a week ago is in the same area I'm taking _Genin_ on a mission to." Shizuka sighed as she put the scroll in her pouch. "Capture or kill?"

"Whatever you see fit." Jackal's answer was instantaneous and Shizuka sent a scowl his way when he didn't say anything else.

"What do I do with the Genin?"

"They will have a few D-Ranks to handle in the village. It should give you two weeks to handle your mission." Koharu spoke up, offering a smaller scroll with the correspondence with the mayor of the village they would be staying in.

Glancing through the scroll, it seemed the mayor had a few small tasks for the Genin to handle while there that would keep them out of trouble while she went off on her own.

"Alright, it shall be done." Shizuka gives them another bow and Jackal disappears soon after, leaving only the two kunoichis in the room.

Koharu started to sort through the scrolls on her desk and Shizuka moved to the window to look out over the village while they waited for the three Genin to arrive.

Luckily the silence didn't last long and soon enough the three Genin knocked on the door before entering. They lined up neatly with Hinata in the middle and Akamaru perched on top of Kiba's head.

"Team Eight, you have been given a C-Rank tracking mission of a bandit who has stolen a few weapons from our armoury." Koharu looked up to watch the three rookies before gesturing vaguely at Shizuka by the window. "Your sensei has been called out on a different mission but has requested Nara Shizuka to lead your team in her stead."

"Hey." Shizuka moved away from the window and smiled at them before standing next to their little line. "I already have the mission brief, but you will have some extra tasks."

"Hai. Your target has left towards the land of Hot Springs and his mercenary group has possible bases near our border. While your captain investigates that, you will be completing some D-Ranks in the village area."

"Shino-Kun, while I'm handling those, you will be the one in charge. Is that agreeable?" Shizuka offered him the list of tasks they would need to complete which he took with a small bow of the head.

"Hai." Shino glanced at the list before putting it into his pocket and pushing his glasses further up his nose. "How long until we leave?"

"Immediately. Good luck." Koharu gave them a last assessing glance before waving them away.

With short bows the four shinobi left the office together, the three Genin easily falling into step with their temporary leader as they left the administration building and walked into the bustling streets.

"So, how are we playing this, _Senpai_?" Kiba grinned at her as Akamaru huffed a bark in response to her wrinkled nose at the title.

"The bandit is civilian and any scents will probably be washed away by the recent rain. We'll have to rely on physical evidence and some luck until we get a more concrete trail."

"Your sensory abilities won't be of much help in the city areas. Why? Because you didn't know our target and thus can't pick him out in a crowd based solely on chakra." Shino pitched in as they moved down the side streets to avoid the more crowded areas.

"Hai, ideally we can find him before he reaches a crowded city. Once we catch his trail, we intercept and let him go so that I can find the base for the mercenary group." Shizuka explained, her eyes trailing to the other kunoichi of the group. "Hinata-chan, how are you feeling? This is your first mission back, right?"

"Hai." Hinata looked down at her clasped hands before meeting Shizuka's gaze. "Do you think we'll find any trouble?"

Shizuka swallowed a wince as her mind conjured the image of the ANBU deserter they had the possibility of crossing paths with.

"No, it's a straightforward mission. We aren't even supposed to engage with the mercenary group, so it's just the one guy."

"Don't we have to fear retaliation while you are spying on them?" Kiba questioned while they approached the gates. He waited for Shizuka to hand the mission certificate and for them to be waved away before continuing. "Why is your mission to investigate only, anyways?"

"We are limited as we are. To set up a complete dismantling of the group would take a while and these guys aren't a priority, only the stolen plans." Shizuka gestured them off the main road and into the forest.

"Alright, your standard formation will suit us just fine for this mission." Shizuka gave them a last cheerful smile before gesturing up to the trees. "Ready? Let's move out!"

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments!**

 **xXFallenSakuraXx52**

Hahaha sorry, I couldn't resist XD My classes are starting up again this week, but I'll try my best to get it uploaded next weekend.

 **Kellaayyee**

Wow, thank you! Thank you so much for your kind words! I can't wait to see the reactions to the next chapter! I know some were really looking forward to the reunion of Itachi and Shizuka :D Thank you again!

 **Lillyyyyy**

Hello! Thank you for reading! Thank you for the lovely comment, it makes my day to read reviews like yours :)

 **AquilaPallas129**

Hahaha yeah… Sorry about that ;P And Kakashi is just being lazy, she'll get her revenge.

 **KooraX**

Hahah sorryyy! More fluff to come! Did it turn out to be what you expected? ;P

 **naxela99**

Your review made me laugh so hard people on the bus thought I was crazy XD Happy that you are enjoying it!

 **emc61298**

Awwww! Thank you so much for reading and for the sweet words! These comments are the highlights of my day :)

 **Candice**

Hello again! Awww thank you! In regards to Sasuke: you'll just have to wait and see! Shouldn't be too long until I reach that arc! Thanks for the comment!

 **Thanks for the comments!**

 **xx**


	41. Helping Hand

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Sorry once again for the delay! Deadline season was brutal this semester, but the worst is over now. I have exams coming up, so I probably will only update after my exams end on the 20th.**

 **Thanks! And I hope you enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 41 - Helping Hand**

The first few days after leaving the village with team eight were a blur. They had settled into an easy routine during the days and watches at night, but had been unlucky in actually catching their target's scent.

They were just past half-way to the border when they caught their first break.

"Found him!." Hinata called, her Byakugan activated and focused far ahead of them. "He's twenty-three kilometres Northeast from us."

"Good job, Hinata." Shizuka smiled at the shy heiress before nodding towards the boys. "Kiba and Akamaru try to catch his scent, Shino see if you can tag him with one of your kikaichū."

"Hai." The boys responded before doing as she asked.

"What will we do once we reach him, Shizuka-San?" Hinata questioned softly, her eyes darting to look at the older kunoichi momentarily before focusing back on their target.

"We will not engage just yet, we'll let him get closer to the hideout and attack last second to get the weapons."

"Why not attack now?" The question came, unsurprisingly, from Kiba.

"Because that would make our area for searching for the hideout larger, with him in range, we can time it better to reduce that area." Shizuka replied evenly, a small grin tugging at her lips at the Genin's impatience. "When the time does come, we just want the weapons."

"If we just want the weapons, why not just take them and continue following him to the hideout?" Shino asked some curiosity leaking into his tone.

"Well, if he knows we are on his trail he shouldn't go straight back to base, at least he wouldn't if he's thinking properly. He would want to throw us off and that would add time to our mission."

"I see." Shino nodded along with her explanation before turning his attention back to the front. "It will also allow us more tracking experience, like the fact that you let us find him instead of you pointing it out."

"Ah-ha, you still remember my range." Shizuka smiled sheepishly before shrugging at the looks she got from them. "My sensei was always the type to let us do the missions on our own while only giving advice or a general plan, that way we learned for ourselves."

"It is a good experience." Hinata agreed and Shizuka grinned brightly at her holding in a giggle when the girl blushed a pretty pink.

They continued the rest of the way, slightly increasing their speed to pass their target to ambush him further ahead.

The fight, if you could even call it that, was one-sided. The civilian man didn't stand a chance against the Genin and he fell to the ground while Shizuka watched from a tree.

They left the man there and made their way to the village at the border of the land of Fire with the land of Hot springs.

"Boys, you guys have your room, Hinata you're with me. Settle in and rest while I go grab us some food." Shizuka gave them room keys before ushering them up the stairs.

She chose the first restaurant she came across and took a moment to pinpoint any stronger signatures from the civilian ones but had no luck.

' _Higuchi was ANBU, he would try to avoid cities like this one for as long as he could.'_ With a sigh, she returned to the hotel and was happy to see all three kids waiting in her and Hinata's room with the list of their D-Ranks between them.

"Here you go." She passed out the bowls of donburi and the chopsticks. "Itadakimasu."

They each dug into their bowls with some light conversation flowing between them, although it was mainly the Genin requesting stories from her missions and relaying what they were training since their missions weren't as interesting.

"What's your plan for the investigation, Shizuka-San?" Shino asked as they cleared the table from the bowl.

"Getting their numbers, patrol rotations, maybe the layout of the place. The people in charge, as much as I can within the time we were given."

"And if you're found out?" Kiba asked with a raised eyebrow, snickering when she looked at him with a mock offended expression.

"So little faith in me!" Shizuka teased before shrugging. "I don't expect any issues and considering the hideout is in my range from the village, I'll be able to keep track of you."

"And the mayor will be giving us the details for our D-Ranks?" Hinata asked as she pulled the sheet closer to look at the list.

"Hai, and remember, you don't need to rush these. You have two weeks, by doing two a day it will get everything done in time."

"We can draw up a map of where they are and do the ones closest together on the same day, that would mean less moving between them." Shino suggested before tilting his head slightly. "And if we think some are fast enough we can double up."

"But what will we do with the rest of the time?" Kiba complained, his fingers drumming steadily on the table. "Two weeks is too long!"

"Train, hide and seek in the village has always been an interesting game. But make it challenging, Hinata can't use her eyes, Kiba can't use his smell or Akamaru, Shino can't use his bugs."

The Genin nodded along with her suggestion and immediately jumped into planning it while she pushed away from the table to take a shower.

When she got out the boys had already returned to their room and Hinata was reading on her futon.

"Goodnight." Shizuka yawned as she settled into the second futon in the room, the Nara immediately rolling onto one side with a hand tucked under her pillow. Within seconds she was asleep.

* * *

She woke up the next morning to the boys knocking on their door, both already geared up for the day.

"Come in, boys." Shizuka yawned and stretched as they entered, Hinata putting her sleeping clothes back into her pack. "Let me change and then we can grab breakfast on the way to the mayor's office."

They nodded along with her and sat by the table they had had dinner the previous night while she disappeared into the bathroom to get ready.

They reached the mayor's office after munching on some pastries to go at ten in the morning and after seeing them to the point of their first task, Shizuka bid them goodbye before heading to her part of the mission.

A few streets away from the Genin she ran through familiar handsigns before taping her hand to the floor as she crouched.

 _ **"Kuchiyose no Jutsu.**_ " Shizuka didn't have time to greet them before she stumbled back as a ball of light grey fur tackled her. "Hi, Gin, I missed you too."

"Zuka-chan!" Her smallest, and sneakiest, summon chirped as he pressed his tiny paws onto her cheeks and nuzzled her nose. "What's my new mission?"

"Gin, you're not supposed to tackle our summoner, be patient and she will greet you." Her main summon, Kei sniffed as she leaned her dark grey head towards Shizuka's hand who immediately started scratching the racoon under her chin.

"Hi, Kei. It's alright, I've missed Gin as well." She reached up to set the smaller ball of fur in front of her. "Kei, I need you to keep an eye on the three Genin nearby, I have a mission nearby so I wanted someone here just in case. Stay out of sight, but if they find you tell them you're my summon."

"Okay!" Kei stood on his back paws and nuzzled her cheek before scurrying off to his mission.

"Kei, you're with me. We have an ANBU deserter and a hideout to observe." Shizuka sighed and stood from her crouched position before launching to the roof of the buildings with Kei right beside her.

"Still on multiple missions per outing? The village is still lacking in numbers?" Kei questioned as they ran.

"Hai, but it is stabilizing. We'll also be getting a new Hokage soon, that should calm everyone down a bit."

Kei nodded along and they fell into a comfortable silence as they entered the nearby forest and made their way to the hideout.

Shizuka had expected for the mercenary group to have a base near one of the cities, but the place they had chosen was close enough to be within her sensory range which meant a lot less work for her.

She easily found a spot high up in a nearby tree and signalled Kei to join her before pointing out the base.

Settling in she allowed Kei to keep watch while she focused on the base below, her senses spreading and taking everything in.

' _Sixty people, all civilians, not at all interesting.'_ Shizuka slumped into the tree trunk behind her and relayed the information to her partner.

"I need to track down the deserter, can you keep watch here? Follow guard rotations, anyone coming in or out. I'll come back before sunset so that we can return to the village."

"Hai. Good luck, Shizuka-Chan."

Shizuka gave the dark-grey racoon a last scratch behind her ears before jumping into a different tree.

While she never had gone on a mission with Higuchi Jikai before, but she should still be able to recognize his signature. Despite the skill level required to earn that title it still meant protocols and a deeply engraved routine.

ANBU were survivors and were trained to stay in the outdoors for very long periods without having to return to civilisation, but no matter how good an ANBU he was, he couldn't hide from her forever.

Pushing her senses to the limit, Shizuka searched for any signature that seemed familiar.

She knew from the information Jackal had compiled was that he had been injured in the invasion and had come to this area to meet with an informant while he finished healing as well as collect a package of supplies.

The issue was they didn't know exactly where that drop would happen, only that it would happen in the next few days in this general area. She planned to scan different areas thoroughly and find either Higuchi while he was hiding or the informant on the way to the drop. While the second was one tricky since she didn't know the informant personally, it became an option if the drop would happen deep enough into a forest as she expected it to.

While her attention was split with the three parts to her mission, with her racoons she could at least keep her focus somewhat on the rogue former-ANBU. To be entirely fair, team eight seemed more put together than some Genin teams she has seen and that helped ease her conscious of leaving them with only a Gin as a watcher.

Exhaling softly, Shizuka allowed herself to fall back into her senses, pushing all other thoughts aside as focused entirely on finding her target.

* * *

It took her five days of scanning the forest, but she finally identified a person, who was not Higuchi leave a town nearby and start to make a journey towards the city she was in now.

While usually, that wouldn't be suspicious the route he was taking was off the path and not a direct route. In addition to that, once Shizuka caught sight of him, he hadn't been carrying anything and he seemed to be scouting the area, checking for tracks and glancing around the trees as if searching for something.

' _Maybe they have a window to meet rather than a specific time.'_ Shizuka sighed and sank into the shadows of the leaves, her chakra pulled tight into her core, hiding her from anyone sensing for presence in the area.

Knowing that she had that part of her mission more or less under control, she sent Kei to keep track of the informant while she returned to the inn to plan for nighttime scouting inside the mercenary base.

When she returned she settled at the small table in her and Hinata's room and started planning with the information Kei had given her already. She was deep into the final version of the plan, with several backup plans already layered into it, when she was drawn out of her thoughts by the Genin entering the room.

"Ne, Shizuka-San, we-we were hoping you could teach us about sensing." Hinata asked shyly as she stood between her teammates in front of the older kunoichi.

"You sure you want to spend your afternoon trying to learn it? And I need to get these reports done before I go out tonight..."

"We would really appreciate learning such a valuable skill from someone well regarded in the area." Shino nodded as he bowed his head slightly towards her.

"Yeah! And that's alright! You can give us pointers and we will work on it in our own time, but we think it would be pretty cool to learn from you!" Kiba pitched in while also thrusting a bag of food under Shizuka's nose. "We even got you dumplings!"

Shizuka bit the insides of her cheek to keep from laughing and cheerfully accepted the bag of food, opening one of the boxes and glancing inside.

"Ah, my favourites. Been talking to Shikamaru, hm?" Shizuka grinned up at them and gestured for them to sit. "Alright, how could I ever refuse?"

The Genin sat down and for the next two hours, they talked about theory and did some small exercises to test out their affinity for it. While they completed those she worked on the plans, occasionally looking up to give them an encouraging comment or advice.

It took her a bit longer than what she expected to get through the entire report, but once she was finished she told the Genin to rest and that she would be back in the morning.

On her way out she caught a glance of Gin lounging on a tree, sprawled across a branch with some food he had probably gotten from around town. Sending him a small signal to let him know she was leaving she went towards the mercenary base.

It didn't take long for her to reach the location, but from the time she knew she was a good half an hour early before she had planned to sneak in during the guard shift change.

Settling into the high branches of the tree she kept an eye on the entrance and waited.

This part was always the most boring part of any infiltration. Shizuka would go several hours at a time of seeing nothing interesting and only feeling the people inside the base move around.

But what came after was what she enjoyed.

Sneaking into the base through a window, door or even the occasional vent always got her excited. She then would go around the entire base and memorize the paths, bedrooms, offices, storage areas and any other space worthy of notice.

When the mission called for it, there could be fights at this point, but knowing that she had to be in top condition to fight Higuchi she was also glad that her mission was investigative only.

During this particular nighttime infiltration, Shizuka went in through a ventilation system and ended up hearing some riveting conversations happening in the kitchen area by some of the mercenaries.

' _Love it when they just give you names.'_ Shizuka controlled her breathing to stop herself from snorting as the men below her continued to talk about their plans, ask about the guy that hadn't arrived yet and listed off a few other names she would ask around for.

Overall it was a productive night, and she returned to the hotel room quietly as to not wake up the sleeping Genin. She decided to take a quick shower as she had been crawling around in vents for the better part of the last four hours. Before she went to bed she wrote down short bullet points on the information she'd gathered and a quick sketch of the base so that she had the main information to start writing a report on the next day.

* * *

It was two days after her night raid that she finally found the rogue ANBU captain. He was travelling at a fast speed towards the area she had seen the informant scouting some days before.

The only issue was that when she found him and he found her.

' _Damnit. He's heading my way.'_ Shizuka cursed and used the time to prepare herself for what was sure to be a hard fight.

A minute later, Shizuka was forced to jump to a different tree to avoid a fireball jutsu, and a second after landing in a roll on the branch she was forced to parry Higuchi's katana strike.

"Nara Shizuka, not exactly who I expected them to send after me." Higuchi bore down on her, his position standing over her and his superior physical strength really had her at a disadvantage.

But alas, the close range was also her favourite.

Flipping her grip on one of her tantōs and spinning her torso under her arms still blocking the katana, she used the tree trunk behind her as a springboard to land a kick to Higuchi's stomach.

The man was forced to move out of the way, disengaging their weapons and taking a step back, using one hand to grasp Shizuka's ankle. Using the leverage she now had, she dropped her body just to the side of the branch, the unexpected load making Higuchi stumble.

Using chakra to stick her hands to the tree, Shizuka spun herself back up to the branch behind Higuchi who spun his katana in a wide arc to catch her in the abdomen.

Only for her to disappear in smoke and reveal a log in her place. Taking Higuchi's momentary distraction of her substitution she used her shadow to capture him, but he was familiar with her clan's jutsu and he saw it coming.

"You should know better than to try something so obvious." Higuchi tutted at her before shunshining behind her and striking at her neck, but his blade was once again parried against her tantōs.

In this position, her back was way too exposed, and so to get out of the tight spot, Shizuka bent forward while also falling into a lunge position with her right leg behind her and immediately spinning as if to sweep Higuchi's feet from under him.

The man jumped over her leg and struck downwards, Shizuka parried and ended up taking a kick to the side, sending her flying towards another tree.

Mentally wincing at the bruises that would form on her back she shook off the pain to dive out of the way of the fireball sent her way.

As she was in midair Higuchi launched a barrage of kunai and shuriken forcing her to block those before landing and immediately pushing her into a defensive position as he continued to strike at her with an increasingly fast pace.

' _Damnit, he'll overpower me at this rate. Time to improvise.'_ Shizuka ducked under a strike from the katana and spun away but ended up getting a cut to the back of her right thigh in the process.

As she tried to put space between them, Higuchi kept the pressure on bringing the speed of the battle up a notch but as he did so, Shizuka caught him while unbalanced, landing a big cut to his abdomen and stabbing through his leg just under the knee. He quickly retaliated by landing a shallow cut to her back with a kunai when he spun around a dual strike from her tantōs.

Putting some space between them she flew through a few handsigns while Higuchi launched more projectiles, the man wary of approaching in case it was a shadow manipulation technique.

" **Raiton Dan: Ibuki!"** Releasing three balls of lightning towards Higuchi who simply moved between them, since he had a limited range of movement due to the stab wound to his leg. As soon as he passed between two of the lightning bullets he got shocked by the unexpected random sparks reaching between the bullets.

Using her opponent's momentary stumble as he got nicked by the lightning jutsu, she dashed towards him only to have him recover in time to block both her tantōs with his katana in one hand and using his forearm guard for the other.

The man immediately started to push against her right arm, knowing that her right leg was injured from his hit, but it didn't last long as he ended up freezing in place as soon as he pushed her back a few steps.

"Gotcha." Shizuka smirked, her eyes falling to the ground where Higuchi had made the mistake of stepping into her shadow. "Delayed activation."

With her explanation she immediately dropped her tantō and wove through more handsigns, she could feel sweat building on her forehead as Higuchi struggled against the bonds.

 **"Kage Nui no Jutsu."** Within seconds, small tendrils broke away from the shadows at Higuchi's feet and pierced his neck and vital organs before receding.

Exhaling loudly Shizuka winced as she felt the blood on her back and leg dripping down her clothes. Deciding to get this over as soon as she could, she sealed away the body of the former ANBU and ran back to the hotel she was staying with the Genin.

Making sure the three were still out doing the last of their missions she slipped into the bathroom and went about cleaning the two cuts the best she could.

Thankfully the cut on her back wasn't too deep and she would be fine with simply wrapping it tightly after cleaning it. For her leg, the cut was a bit deeper, but she could reach the area to do a decent enough job at stitching it.

The total process of cleaning the grime of the battle, making sure her cuts were clean and wrapping them took over an hour and soon enough she sensed the Genin returning to the hotel, all three immediately congregating in the girls' room.

"Shizuka-San, are you okay?" Kiba gave her a pointed look, his eyes drifting to her injured shoulder and leg. From the way his nose twitched she assumed he smelled her blood.

"I encountered a rogue on this last round of investigation, he got a couple hits in, but I'm alright. The best thing right now is to return to the village and rest." Shizuka gave them a reassuring smile before straightening up and walking the few steps to the window waving at something they couldn't see. "Gin, could you be a sweetheart and pop a request to have the base watched? The usual place will do."

"Hai, Zuka-chan!" Gin bobbed his head and happily accepted a few ear scratches from his Summoner before turning to the surprised Genin, waving at them and then scuttling down the side of the building.

"I knew it! I told you we had a racoon following us! My nose never lies!" Kiba yelled out causing Akamaru to whine from the volume.

"Hai, sorry for that, but he was there just in case you needed me urgently." Shizuka smiled sheepishly before ushering the kids out the door. "Gin is sneaky though and likes pranks. If he knew you knew he was following you he might have decided to play practical jokes on you."

Shizuka outright laughed as Kiba grumbled and Shino sighed out a 'troublesome' that made the Nara proud while Hinata's shy smile and comment on her summons being cute made her grin all the wider.

"All right, I believe you three only have two missions left? " Shizuka gave Shino a questioning look who nodded. "Perfect, we can get them done bright and early tomorrow, that will allow us to start to head back in the afternoon. Sound good?"

"Hai!" They chorused, Akamaru yipped his agreement before Shizuka gestured to the door.

"Let's go get some dinner then." Shizuka chuckled as Kiba and Akamaru dashed out of the room with Hinata quietly reprimanding him from bothering other guests while Shino just sighed quietly which only made the Nara laugh harder.

* * *

Two days after returning to the village Shizuka finally had the opportunity to meet up with her friends.

"The kids enjoyed having you as a captain, said they learned quite a bit too." Kurenai commented as they waited for their order to arrive.

"They are a good team, very easy to work with." Shizuka smiled fondly. "All the rookies have grown on me."

"A talented bunch." Yuugao agreed, leaning back in her seat to allow their waiter to place their orders in front of them.

"Itadakimasu." They echoed before digging into the dumplings they had ordered.

"I'd forgotten how good these dumplings were." Kurenai smiled before biting into another one. "Not bad, Zuka."

"Also, pumpkin oyaki?" Yuugao teased as she gestured to Shizuka's plate. "Wonder who influenced you on that one."

Kurenai giggles as Shizuka blushes and stuffs her mouth with another bite.

The three of them then started sharing the gossip they had heard, though most of it was on some of their colleagues and the information was generally an exchange to use as a way to tease their friends about one thing or the other.

They eventually moved on to telling stories of their own and their experiences with the boys, Kurenai complained about Asuma's smoking and Yuugao complained Hayate was a workaholic. Shizuka giggled at them and offered blackmail on both men to her fellow kunoichi.

After an hour or so they paid for their meal and left the restaurant and bid each other goodbye.

"Next time, hot-springs!" Kurenai smiled at them as she started making her way home with Yuugao next to her.

"And we'll get Anko to join as well." Shizuka agreed with a small nod, watching as the two older kunoichi left towards their own homes before making her way to the art shop.

Once she was there she recited her usual code to collect the information the Spectrum had gathered and took it to her office where she would decode and attach them to the mind maps sprawled across the walls.

She was just starting to pin the newest set of notes to the wall when a knock sounded from the door.

"Come in, Tō-San." Shizuka called, not bothering to turn around to greet her father as he approached her side. "How have you been? I didn't catch you this morning."

"I had an extra early meeting with the council." Her father explained, his eyes darting to the newest additions to the wall before rubbing a tired hand over his face. "I suppose I have some more reading to do…"

"Already have a summary written, it's on my desk. Only one copy for now…"

"Thank you." He gave the end of her braid a little tug as he moved to sit in her chair and start reading what she had written. "Unfortunately, I'm not here just to check up on you."

Sighing as she heard the tone in his voice she stopped her task and returned to his side, stopping just behind him to place her hands on his shoulders and squeezing them.

"Reports came in from our borders near Iwa. They seem to be coming into the Land of Fire more often, small confrontations although no deaths have been reported."

"Bold move on their part... " Shizuka hummed, biting back a grin as her father's head lolled back as she continued to gently massage his shoulders. "Test of strength?"

"Hmm…"

She sorted and let go of his shoulders, raising an eyebrow in amusement when he slowly blinked his eyes open with an expression vaguely resembling a pout.

"We're sending out an ANBU team, get info on what is happening while staying out of sight and on the way back, a little show of strength to let them know we know what they are doing." His eyes were half-lidded as he spoke, but the underlying message was clear.

' _This is a big deal.'_ Shizuka sighed as her mind immediately came up with all the ways the mission could go wrong, but shaking her head she offered her father a smile.

"Alright, we'll make sure the message gets across."

Letting out a breath, Shikaku stood up and put the scroll he was reading into his vest before tugging Shizuka into a hug.

"I know you've had some busy weeks, but infiltration of this type and level, we have limited options." He planted a kiss on her forehead before stepping back and giving her an assessing glance. "Two and a half weeks, A-Rank. You'll get the summon later today, your team is leaving at sunset."

"Hai." She gave him one more reassuring smile before bidding him goodbye. "See you when I get back."

"Good luck."

She waved him goodbye and turned to the stacks of papers she still had to attach to the wall. With a sigh at the pile, she got to work, pushing her next mission to the back of her mind.

* * *

A few days later and she was back in her ANBU gear with Cat, Mantis and Hyena near the border with Iwa. Surprisingly it didn't take long for them to locate some teams of Iwa shinobi on the Land of Earth side of the border.

Cat gave them a signal and they spread out, one person for each team, one team a day for five days. They were all relatively close together, so the Konoha ANBU managed to set up a semi-permanent base just inside the Land of Fire and they would take short shifts during the night with two resting, one keeping watch and one scouting their Iwa team.

It was tedious work, but they compiled a long list of information on training drills they were running, their intentions so close to the border, names and even a couple notes to update their Bingo Books.

Even if they weren't actively doing much more than observing, being in the enemy territory did unsettle the team slightly, especially knowing that even the four ANBU would struggle against the Iwa Jōnin, and it was unlikely they would all survive that conflict.

Nonetheless, Shizuka knew from her father's words that they weren't there for more than information, and once Cat was satisfied with what they had gathered, they moved on to the second part of their mission: a display of strength.

What that basically meant was, no killing, just some light trauma, within reason, and ideally framed in a way that makes Iwa seem like the guilty side.

While in most cases that was easier said than done, in this particular scenario it was all working in the Konoha ninja's favour.

They found three teams of Iwa shinobi deep enough into the Land of Fire to raise a few eyebrows. Each team was composed of four members, two Jōnin and two Mid-High Chūnin and out of the twelve shinobi, at least six of them had Bingo Book entries.

The ANBU team having the home-field advantage effortlessly set up a plan to act.

Hyena started by layering some Genjutsu around the area to ensure two of the teams would bump into each other in a forested valley nearby. Cat would then guide the third team to the area at the top of the valley so that they would be able to see what was happening below.

While those two guided their targets into place, Chipmunk and Mantis laid out the traps.

Mantis released a massive cloud of kikaichū and with an added layer of genjutsu on top of Hyena's it would seem like an endless number of them. Meanwhile, Shizuka sat in the shade of a tree, her hands clasped in the rat sign and the shadows dancing around her.

As soon as she joined her ANBU team, during their first month-long training mission, she had explained the jutsu she had developed during the Chūnin Exams. And while the drawbacks could be massive, for something at a smaller scale where she wouldn't be travelling far, the benefits outweigh the issues.

It didn't take long for the Iwa teams to arrive in the valley and as soon as they did, Mantis and Chipmunk jumped into action.

Shizuka snorted as all four of the Iwa Jōnin immediately called out to watch for the shadows, each lighting small light bombs and throwing them around the area.

' _My, my, the Nara really did something to them for them to have so many of those.'_ With an amused shake of her head, she pulled on the shadows below the bombs and had them 'sink' into the ground, the light cast off by them disappearing along with the spheres.

Mantis' kikaichū were swarming them and from where she was sitting, Shizuka could see Cat making random trees appear where there hadn't been any trees before.

The team watching from up above were spared from living through the swarming chakra eating insects and randomly blooming trees that certainly left a few bruises on the Iwa shinobi. But they didn't escape Hyena's personal brand of nightmare-inducing genjutsu.

Although she couldn't see what they did, by their hands were trembling as they broke out of the genjutsu Shizuka was sure Hyena would be pleased with himself.

After half an hour of being completely passive in their little show, all it took was a single whistle from Cat and suddenly everything was gone. From the trees that had appeared, the kikaichū, the dancing shadows, the genjutsu, the ground restored to any stray weapons lying around, everything was back to normal.

The ANBU observed silently as the Iwa shinobi tried to figure out what had just happened. After a few minutes of hearing them argue, Cat signalled for Shizuka to continue with the next part of their plan.

Launching her shadows out again, she used the gaps left by the roots of Cat's trees to connect to all the eight shinobi down in the valley while pulling them into the shadows, completely covering them in them, before they were buried further in another cloud of bugs.

"You have no business in the Land of Fire." Cat-Taichō's voice sounded loud from the top of the valley. "Training drills are not to be held in other countries without a permit, which you don't have."

"If we kill you now there won't be a record of your presence here, your Kage would have to forsake your existence or challenge us and make public he went against the original treaty." Shizuka continued, easing up on the shadows as the bugs drained the shinobi of their chakra. "So let's call this a failed training drill and call it a day."

The shinobi in the valley stumbled to their feet as they were low enough on chakra to know fighting wasn't an option but with enough chakra that they could make their way back to the Land of Earth.

The shinobi at the top of the valley joined their comrades on the ground with Shizuka and helped steady the ones that were worse off.

"Also, take it from me, but your backup camp security were also mediocre. And too far to be of any good. Their info was good though, you all just need to remember shadows have ears too." Shizuka cheerfully jumped up into a tree making sure they wouldn't get a good view of her mask. "Careful not to stumble, the shadows in this area tend to swallow things up. And I can guarantee they never come back."

To prove a point she made a tree nearby sink into the ground partially before letting it go, the loose trunk tumbling down forcing the Iwa shinobi to jump out of the way.

With a quick bow of her head, Shizuka jumped to land beside her teammates, the sun high in the sky above them ensuring the Iwa shinobi wouldn't be able to see their masks without catching the glare of the sun.

The Iwa shinobi started walking backwards, keeping an eye on the ANBU squad until they absolutely had to turn away to jump into the trees.

The ANBU watched them jump away for a few minutes before Cat sighed and turned to the two youngest members, Chipmunk and Mantis.

"How many traps along the valley did you two set up?"

"Enough that they will hurt when they get back to their territory." Shizuka shrugged nonchalantly. "I can now make temporary chakra activated shadow sinkholes! They only last an hour, but if any chakra comes into contact with it, down they go! The only way out is to keep the chakra stream just as steady as it went in."

"And if they don't?" Cat sighed as he resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Well, I hope they don't need that limb anymore."

Hyena snorted and tugged at her braid before gesturing towards the trees.

"Shall we check their progress, we need to make sure they are out of our lands before returning home."

Cat gave him an appreciative clap on the shoulder before urging the team to follow him as they settled near enough to their border that Shizuka would be able to tell with the Iwa shinobi passed through.

* * *

Upon their return to the village, they went immediately to the Hokage office and were pleasantly surprised by the presence of Senju Tsunade.

' _Jiraiya and Naruto are back then.'_ Shizuka and the rest of her teammates knelt with their heads bowed as they introduced themselves.

"I am Cat, leader of this team." Taichō's voice was in his 'report' tone and the team stood up once Tsunade waved at them. "We returned from the Land of Earth where there were tensions brewing. Iwa had teams loitering around the borders, but they were simply prying at our forces under the idea of a training drill, nothing to indicate any further issues."

"Have they backed off or do we need to have a team stay there for a while?" Tsunade asked as she tapped on the table that was filled with paperwork.

"On our way back we made our presence known, found three teams relatively deep into our territory and Chipmunk may have traumatised them, but they ran back to the Land of Earth."

Shizuka held in a snicker as her father sent her an exasperated look from where he stood next to the desk but let her smugness leak into her signature which Inoichi caught on to if the quirk of his lips was anything to go by.

"Any useful information?" Danzō drawled with a stern frown on his face as he inspected each of the ANBU in front of the desk.

She sensed rather than saw Cat give her a signal to take over the report. With a short head bow, she started to relay the information they had gathered.

"We compiled an updated list of Bingo Book entries, a set of new training drills, patrol rotations and tool developments." Shizuka pulled out a scroll for each of the points and placed them in a neat line on the Hokage's desk. "We have already sorted through the information and any of the follow-up questions will be sent to our CIs in the area."

"Well done. On to the next matter, my inauguration is tomorrow and you all have the day off. Report back the following morning with your written reports and an updated schedule should be posted." Tsunade dismissed them and leaned back in her chair, her eyes inspecting each person on her team before nodding as if satisfied with what she's seen.

Taking their leave, the four ANBU shunshined out of the office and made their way to headquarters and their bunk room.

"Chip, team lunch tomorrow? I'll get Masa, you call sensei." Kaito asked as he pulled his Hyena mask slightly away from his face.

"Sure. Meet after the inauguration, we can go together from there." Shizuka pulled her mask off and waved at him as he continued to his team's bunk room a few doors further down the hallway.

Heading into her team's bunk she found Cat without his mask at the desk already writing his report and the sound of the shower running let her know Mantis was there. Stretching her arms above her head she collapsed onto Bear's bed, as it was the one under hers and she was too lazy to climb up the stairs.

She vaguely heard Cat snort before she let herself drift off into a quick nap while she waited for her turn in the shower.

While after regular missions and patrols she would simply go home, she found that she enjoyed going to headquarters before heading home as it gave her that extra bit of time for her mind to switch from mission thoughts to simply enjoy being back in Konoha.

Besides, she was tired and she'd get more sleep without her mother asking her about what she would wear to the inauguration tomorrow.

* * *

"From this day on I shall protect the Leaf Village as the Godaime Hokage." Tsunade called out to the villagers gathered around the Hokage tower after having sworn a traditional oath.

The crowd erupted into cheers and applause, Shizuka clapped along with everyone in attendance and after a few moments of observing the people below, Tsunade retreated back inside of the Hokage tower, Shikaju, Inoichi, Jiraiya and Jackal following behind her.

As the crowd started to disperse her mother, Ino's mother, Chōza and his wife were chatting beside her while she tried to locate her teammates in the crowd.

"Shizuka, come we have a meeting." The Nara heiress turned on her heel to see her father and Inoichi approaching.

"We do? I thought I had the day off?" She tilted her head but continued searching through the crowd with her senses. "I was also going to lunch with team four."

"I'll let them know you'll find them later." Yoshino grinned cheerfully as she gave her daughter a little nudge towards her father. "Go on, you can't be late."

"Considering I wasn't informed until last minute I don't think being late would be my fault."

"Shizuka, come, we can't keep them waiting." Her father sighed and gestured towards the Hokage tower.

"Thought you had a day off, Nee-San." Shikamaru and the rest of team eight approached the group.

"Yeah, apparently not." Shizuka gave them a shrug and then her lips twitched into a grin. "How troublesome…"

Shikamaru shook his head and turned to their father.

"Ino-Shika-Chō lunch still happening?"

"Hai, we'll meet you at the barbeque place, the meeting won't take long." Shikaku nodded before he turned to walk back into the tower, trusting that his daughter would follow.

"Inoichi-Oji, you coming?" Shizuka looked over her shoulder to see her uncle figure still standing with his wife and daughter.

"No, I won't be needed for this meeting. Good luck!"

Shizuka's eyes narrowed before she turned to catch up with her father, easily matching her pace to his as they started their way up the stairs, her mind flicking through what this meeting could be about.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Her father asked as they were about halfway up to the Hokage's office level.

"Maybe… There aren't a lot of meetings that would involve me and you but not Inoichi-Oji." Shizuka sighed as she glanced up at her father while pouting. "But I hope I'm wrong."

Shikaku snorted and they continued the way to the Hokage's office in silence, pausing at the door only to knock before being immediately called in.

"Hokage-Sama." Shizuka and Shikaku bowed slightly in greeting before standing to face the Godaime fully.

A quick glance around the room just made Shizuka more suspicious as Jiraiya and Jackal were standing to the sides of the blonde woman.

"Nara Shizuka, due to the recent losses on our side we have been a little short on Jōnin and after many recommendations for your skills in several areas I have decided to pass your promotion to Jōnin."

Shizuka blinked once after Tsunade finished her little speech and then shifted her gaze to Jiraiya who had a smirk plastered on, Jackal seemed amused by her lack of reaction and her father was simply staring at her waiting for a response.

"I'm honoured." Shizuka bowed her head in acceptance. "But shouldn't I have to do an exam in the form of a mission with a partner to have it made official?

"Usually, but your work in Intel has been praised several times by several people, the Sandaime had planned for you to take your mission soon, but as everything has been hectic there was no time." Tsunade explained before she gestured to Jackal.

"You've proven yourself in the ANBU ranks, Intel and the regular forces repeatedly. You've already trained the Genin by helping with the rookie nine so their senseis also put in a word about your efforts in that area."

' _Should've seen that one coming.'_ Shizuka mentally sighed but nodded and stepped up to the desk to get the paperwork she'd have to fill in for her records to be updated.

"And one more thing before you go." Jackal stepped up with a scroll of his own. "Cat and I have decided you're ready for a promotion to captain. We are low on numbers and after Higuchi's defection, we are a captain down. Congratulations."

Shizuka felt her eyebrow twitch as a scroll was added to the pile of papers she'd have to fill out. She narrowed her eyes at him but smiled sweetly with a quick bow of the head.

"Honoured, thank you."

"You're dismissed. Good luck." Tsunade waved her away and after a quick bow, Shizuka left the office with her father right behind her.

"Seriously?"

"You should have seen it coming." Shikaku deadpanned as Shizuka pouted up at him. "At least Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai let the hours of you training their Genin count as teaching hours. You probably don't have to do any teaching for the rest of the year."

"How kind of them." She drawled with sarcasm dripping off of every word, before shaking her head and giving him an inquisitive glance. "Say, you don't happen to have any infiltration missions coming up later this week, do you?"

"There are missions within those parameters." Shikaku sighed as Shizuka's expression turned mischievous. "Two days from now, A-Rank infiltration and possible assassination of some corrupt noble at the Damiyō's court. Who do you want?"

"Kaito and Kakashi."

Shikaku snorted and wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed her before letting her go.

"I'll see what I can do. Now go find that team of yours, you've kept them waiting long enough."

Shizuka smiled up at him and kissed his cheek before locating her team in a bar a couple of blocks away. It didn't take long for her to reach the bar, and after weaving through several tables of people chatting and celebrating their new Hokage she slid into the little booth next to Kouta-Sensei.

"Hello, boys." Shizuka smiled thankfully at Kaito who slid over her favourite drink for her to sip. "It's been a while."

"Hai, we have a lot to catch up on." Masaru grinned as he leaned forward while lowering his voice. "But your mom told us you had a meeting with the Hokage. So, what was that about."

Kaito sighed and flicked Masaru's ear who yelped and turned to glare at the shorter man.

"You're not supposed to ask these things, Masa."

"It's fine, Kai." Shizuka shrugged as she sipped her drink and lifted the papers she had been carrying and put them on the table. "Got promoted to Jōnin and captain."

Her two former teammate's jaws dropped and their sensei sighed and flicked her ear.

"Could've kept the second part quiet."

"No point. Kai would've found out, he'd tell Masa and you still have friends in ANBU. By the way, when were you going to tell me you were Jackal's teammate?"

Kouta choked on his drink and turned to glare at the girl who was smiling innocently, completely ignoring Kaito's surprised gasp.

"When did-"

"Jackal has a photo with three people in it: Chameleon, Jackal and another mask I couldn't quite see as Jackal interrupted my inspection. It really wasn't hard to figure out from there." Shizuka shrugged at his incredulous look. "You know Jackal well, are around the same age and well, Chameleon is a good fit for an infiltration specialist."

"You were snooping in the commander's office?" Kaito was clearly trying to hold back his laughter.

"No, he called me there to talk about something. And my eyes drifted around." Shizuka sniffed and Kaito started chuckling and soon all three men were laughing with him.

"Never change, Zuka." Kaito chortled as he started to calm down.

After a few minutes Masaru, who had been a bit left out of the ANBU jokes, had a realisation of what Shizuka's promotion meant.

"Wait! You outrank us again!" Masaru jabbed an accusing finger towards her. "And you technically didn't an official Jōnin promotion mission either. Man, that's not fair. "

"That I do." Shizuka grinned before sending a sly look to Kaito who sighed at the look in her eyes. "Kai, we have a mission in two days. You, me and _Kakashi._

"Oh no."

"Oh yes!"

"Good luck, Kaito." Masaru laughed as Kaito slumped in his seat, his head coming to rest on the table, his light brown hair pooling by the sides of his face to hide him from view.

"Ah, Kaito, looks like you're on Shizuka babysitting duty." Kouta chortled as he raised his glass. "In any case, all my Genin are now fully-fledged Jōnin. I'm proud of you three and how far you've come."

The four members of team four clinked their glasses together before taking a drink of their beverages and continuing to enjoy their lunch with laughter and stories.

Shizuka took a moment then, to observe each of her teammates carefully.

Masaru was still the tallest of the three, although he was just short of Kouta's height. His dark blue eyes still twinkling in amusement at everything around him and his short golden brown hair was still a mess atop his head. He still had a boyish face, which he often complained about because people thought he seemed younger than he was. The only real difference from their early Genin days besides the height would probably be the beard he seemed to be growing out, much to everyone's amusement.

Kaito was the one who had changed the most. His formerly short light brown hair now reached just past his shoulder. He had gained a scar that reached from the middle of his cheek straight down to his jaw and his eyes which were formerly a warm honey colour were now a bit darker.

Kouta had changed the least, his black hair was the same length, dark eyes still very observant of the world around him. Besides maybe having become more relaxed and open with his students who were no longer the fresh out of the academy but rather experienced shinobi themselves.

' _I've always wanted a team like Tō-San's, and I'm glad that these guys are a part of that.'_ Shizuka smiled at the thought before Kouta gave her a nudge to join the conversation again. _'So what now?'_

* * *

When she returned home several hours later she was greeted by the Ino-Shika-Chō families in the backyard having tea, playing shogi and simply enjoying a nice afternoon together.

She was repeatedly congratulated on her promotion, although her mother and Daichi gave the ANBU promotion scroll a weary look before smiling softly at her.

She played a few games of shogi with Inoichi, her uncle, father and brother. Although the first two gave up after a while to leave the clan head and his two children to battle it out on their own.

The afternoon sped by and just as the guests were leaving Genma appeared around the porch.

"Good evening." Genma greeted them with a smile, giving his former sensei a quick wave. "I was asked to get the newest Jōnin for her promotion celebration."

"Gen!" Shizuka grinned and walked over to him, giving him a kiss on the lips, his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her into him even after they pulled apart. "Tō-San, Ka-San is there anything planned for tonight?"

"No, fawn. Go and enjoy your night with your friends." Shikaku shook his head and took the shogi board back into the house, her uncle following right after with Shikamaru as well.

"Alright, let me grab some things. Ka-San, I'll come home in the morning." Shizuka stood on her toes to plant a kiss on Genma's jaw before heading inside, completely ignoring her mother's snickers and boyfriend's sigh.

In minutes she was back outside with a small bag over her shoulder. Genma offered her an arm and they walked together towards the village centre, with a minor stop to drop her things off at Genma's apartment.

Walking into the bar, Shizuka shooed Genma off to the table with their friends while she went to get them drinks, shushing his protest that he should but her a drink to celebrate her promotion with a kiss.

As she reached the bar she sidled up to the silver-haired ninja who was ordering a round of drinks.

"I hear congratulations are in order." Kakashi turned to look at her as she waved down a bartender. "Welcome to the Jōnin club."

Shizuka snorted and pinched him in the arm, letting a small shock race down her fingers to hit him in the bicep.

"Heard your Genin are off to the Land of Tea tomorrow, how does it feel to have some time off?"

"It's almost too quiet without them around." Kakashi mused as they waited for their drinks.

"You get used to it." Kouta snorted, collecting the round of drinks for his table and stepping back from the bar. "It might seem dull now, but it'll be a relief when they come back telling the stories."

"Now now, Sensei, I know you love us." Shizuka gave him a sweet smile, which the man answered with a shake of his head before leaving to his table.

"You traumatised the poor man." Kakashi teased just as their drinks arrived.

"So you haven't been told yet?" Shizuka sent him a side look as they made their way back to the table with the drinks. "Masa and Sensei are leaving on different missions this week, so Kaito and I need a third member…"

"No."

"But-"

"Not going to happen."

"What's not happening?" Genma questioned as he looked between Shizuka's grin and Kakashi's adamant expression.

"I requested Kakashi join Kaito and me on our mission in a few days." Shizuka explained sending Kaito a wink as he snorted, her teammate shuffling further into the booth to give Kakashi room to sit.

"I'll refuse."

"You shouldn't have pushed for my promotion." Shizuka smirked at him before sitting across from him and beside Genma. "Not to mention, I'm on good terms with the Jōnin Commander."

"That's cheating." Kakashi huffed while glaring at her from across the table.

"You get used to it." Kaito drawled earning a snort from Genma and a kick to the shins from Shizuka. "Oi!"

"I'm never going to teach you a lightning jutsu again." The silver-haired ninja threatened but Shizuka just grinned cheerfully.

"Fine, since you're refusing a simple little A-Rank, I'll tell Tsunade-San to not assign you anything above a C Rank, after all your skills must be rusty after training the Genin."

"You couldn't."

"You'd be surprised. She got Kouta sensei stuck in the village specifically on the days Asami-San had off so that she could set them up." Kaito pitched in with a smirk. "You'd be surprised at how well her weird plans work."

"Never mess with a Nara." Genma teased him with a smirk. "A mission with them will do you good, Kakashi."

"For what?"

"Your boredom, you were complaining you missed team seven antics, Shizuka's team is the next best thing." Asuma snorted as Shizuka's grin turned a slight bit feral and Kakashi slumped.

"How long?"

"A week or two if nothing goes wrong. Debrief at noon, _don't be late_." With a victorious grin, Shizuka raised her glass and tapped it against Kakashi's own glass still on the table. "To a successful mission."

* * *

 **/AN\**

 _ **Kuchiyose no Jutsu -**_ _Summoning Jutsu_

 _ **Raiton Dan: Ibuki**_ _\- Lightning Release Bullet: Powerful Breath_

 _ **Kage Nui no Jutsu** \- Art of Shadow Stitching_

 **Replying to comments!**

 **Lillyyyyy**

Thank you for the compliment! Makes me happy to see that people are enjoying it! And I'm looking forward to the next two arcs too! Hopefully, everyone enjoys what I have planned.

 **Candice**

Hello again!

Thank you! Yup first fight is done but they had time to cool off before confronting the issue. Shikaku is love XD I do have a flashback chapter planned but I'm still "collecting" scenes to put there, who knows, Shikaku and Genma's talks might make the cut! :D Gossipy shinobi is always fun to write especially when close friends hear about stuff and use it to tease each other. Thanks for the comment, it always makes me smile when I get the notification ;P

 **Thanks for the comments!**

 **xx**


	42. Interruptions

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Happy holidays!**

 **I can't believe we're at chapter 42 already! I have a sort of announcement to make: Chapter 48 is a flashback chapter and I was wondering if there are any specific scenes you'd like to see.**

 ***** If you have a scene you wanted to see included in the flashback chapter, let me know and I'll see if I can include it. *****

 **Here's a link to the poll on surveymonkey r/ T3GFXQ3**

 **Thanks! And I hope you enjoy!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 42 - Interruptions**

Shizuka's mission with Kakashi and Kaito was smooth running and the trio easily completed the whole ordeal within the week they had been given. Kakashi was surprisingly good at infiltration although he clearly didn't enjoy them. All in all, the trio worked efficiently and even came out with a few scrolls worth of information they hadn't been planning on collecting.

Just a day after their return, Shizuka was enjoying a peaceful afternoon running through some katas and practising with her shadows when Sasuke appeared before her, hands in pockets and the perpetual brooding expression firmly in place.

"Sasuke, do you need me for something?" Without letting go of her shadows, she turned to look over her shoulder at the Uchiha.

"You used to train here with _him_."

"It's a nice clearing." Shizuka sighed and release her shadows as the boy continued to stare intently at her. "What do you want?"

"You already know."

"And I've given you an answer already." Shizuka pursed her lips and turned to look completely at him. "My job is to know things others don't, often that information is too dangerous even for me, but I _must_ hold on to it."

"What would it take for you to give me the information I want?"

Shizuka gave him an appraising glance, her eyes moving between his tense shoulders down his arms, noticing he had his hands clenched in his pockets while the rest of his body seemed to rest in a nonchalant slouch.

"I'm not sure you have anything of interest to offer me." Keeping her expression neutral she gave him a shrug, holding in a smirk when his eyes narrowed in a challenge.

"I know Kakashi has had you keeping an eye on me. You're the one leaving jutsu scrolls on my window."

"I'm helping out a friend, what's wrong with that?"

"You're not doing shit." Sasuke scowled.

"I have other important things to do, like investigating actual threats to the village." Shizuka watched as Sasuke shifted his stance before she continued. "Since you're not getting any information from me, I'll offer myself as a training partner. If you ever need my help, you know where to find me."

Seeing that he wasn't going to say anything else, Shizuka collected her things and left the clearing. The young Uchiha left in silence to think about her words.

* * *

Masaru was having a wonderful day. Kaito was back from his mission and they had officially been given the go-ahead to move into their new flat. So, to celebrate they had gone out to lunch to the fancy sushi place they enjoyed and were planning on going shopping for things for their new place in the afternoon.

"We will also need to get a shogi board for when Zuka is around." Kaito had gotten into a full-on discussion with himself of listing what they would need to get and Masaru simply nodded along to his boyfriend's enthusiasm. "And probably a stock of puzzle magazines for Sensei."

"Hm…" Masaru agreed as they sat down at the table and opened the menu even though they would order their usual dishes. "We also need to plan for a housewarming. But first, we need to get everything else."

"Well, we mainly need to figure out the configuration for the second bedroom." Kaito shrugged, closing the menu and leaning forwards. "I was thinking about getting a couch that can be converted into a bed and a desk to make an office space."

"I like that idea." Masaru grinned and put his menu down to wave down someone to place their order.

But fate decided to ruin his day when instead of a waitress he spots their only female teammate weave through the tables of the restaurant towards where they were seated.

"Zuka, what brings you here?" Masaru smiled pleadingly at her, hoping that she wasn't about to say what he thought she would.

"Sorry to interrupt, boys." Shizuka grimaced and pulled out a scroll from her pocket before passing it to Kaito who took it after sending him an apologetic look. "We leave in a couple of hours, five-week intel gathering. Debrief with Jackal in an hour."

"Masa-"

"It's okay." Masaru smiled at Kaito although he was pretty sure it looked more like a grimace. "I understand. Don't keep him waiting."

Kaito reached over to squeeze his hand tightly before standing from the table and moving behind Masaru to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"I'll see you soon."

"Sorry, Masa." Shizuka gave him an understanding smile before walking out with Kaito, the two jumping onto the closest roof as soon as they were out of the restaurant.

Masaru sighed as he watched them disappear before waving down the waitress

' _We never have enough time.'_

* * *

Masaru was having a shit couple of months.

First Kaito and Shizuka leave for a secret ANBU mission. This meant he had to start moving his things into his new flat on his own. His frequent training and lunch buddies were away, and while he wasn't short on friends, he still felt lonely without those two around.

Then the damn mission that was supposed to last five weeks was delayed by three weeks because of 'unexpected circumstances' as the missive he got from the Hokage for being the emergency contact for Kaito.

He couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed that his boyfriend didn't send a note with his summons as he'd done before when his missions had been delayed. Although deep down he also understood that the situation in the mission was probably rough enough that Kaito didn't want to risk sending a lemur with a message.

To be fair, he hadn't spent the last two months stuck in the village. He had a two-week patrol and then a short delivery mission to keep him occupied, but in contrast to his time on missions with a team, his time in the village was generally spent alone.

Masaru didn't have as many friends as his other two teammates who always seemed to have other people around them. Kaito despite his quiet nature was known to give friendly banter and advice to whoever approached and Shizuka despite being younger than most of their peers was respected by her intellect and skills.

He knew that if he compared his strength with either of his teammates he would be lacking in most areas. Not that his two teammates cared that he couldn't match them in strength, as a matter a fact they did everything they could to highlight his strengths and help him with anything he needed. But whenever he watched the two spar he was always startled just how further ahead they had gotten.

His teammates were better known in the ranks, through their skills, experience and charisma whenever an infiltration specialist was needed, they were simply the more likely candidates to be requested. And while he didn't mind it much he couldn't help but feel isolated from that side of their life.

With a sigh, he decided to head out to the usual bar in hopes of finding someone from their group to share a few drinks and occupy some of the time he had while waiting for his teammates to return.

* * *

When Shizuka and Kaito arrived back into the village they immediately sent each other a look.

"Something is wrong…" Shizuka murmured as they approached the gates and signed their entrance while Izumo and Kotetsu bowed their heads at the cloaked ANBU. "What has happened?"

"Uchiha Sasuke defected and joined Orochimaru." Izumo supplied, his gaze wandering between the two ANBU. "This was just two days ago."

"Hm. Thank you, Izumo-San." Shizuka nodded her thanks and silently snickered as Izumo's eyes widened that she knew his name.

ANBU were held in high regard in the village and often attracted a lot of curiosity from the people, shinobi and civilian alike. There were often bet pools on who wore each mask, ages and more. They were often set apart because many were purely ANBU, that is, they took no missions outside of the special forces. Having one know your name when you had no idea theirs generally came as a surprise, and while technically they aren't supposed to reveal small things like that, Shizuka couldn't help but enjoy messing with her friends.

Without any communication between them, the ANBU took the roofs at a quick pace to finish reporting in as soon as they could. Shizuka pushed the nervous gut feeling she had to the back of her mind, comforting herself in the presence of her precious people's signatures dotted around the village.

Jackal was in a mood when they reported in and their commander quickly explained the situation once they had finished.

"Some of Orochimaru's spies made it into the village and contacted Uchiha Sasuke who left with them to join their master. We were already low on shinobi and couldn't spare any Jōnin, therefore a squad of Genin led by Nara Shikamaru were sent in pursuit."

The fact that spied made it far enough into the village to talk to the last Uchiha was obviously an issue that village security would have to work out. She was sure her father would be incredibly grateful that he created a department for that once the Uchiha Police Force was put out of action. While Shikau would still have a say and technically the superior officer, the department could generally run itself while her father only read the reports.

Shizuka kept her breathing steady as he reported what had happened on that mission and made a note to visit the rookies in the hospital the next day.

Once Jackal dismissed them, Shizuka gave Kai a single look before she ran home, promising to meet up with him and Masa in the next few days.

The Nara compound didn't seem too different, but circling her house she found her brother staring at a mid-game set up of the shogi board.

"Tadaima." She greeted, settling herself across the board from him, not too bothered by his lack of response. "What's next?"

Shikamaru looked up from the board with a deadpan expression, his lips twisting into a frown and Shizuka easily noticed the few bags under his eyes.

With a general wave towards the board, she repeated her question.

"What's next?"

That got him thinking, his hand hovering above one of his pieces before he finally made his move.

"I adapt."

' _Ah, Tō-San's classic if-not-us-then-who lecture.'_ Shizuka smirked and moved one of her pieces, Shikamaru frowned at her move but played on nonetheless.

"Good. And how will you do that?"

"Learn of the enemy to counter their mind and train to be physically ready."

Shizuka smiled at him and gave a vague wave towards the house.

"If you ever need information, feel free to ask and whatever is within your clearance will be passed on." Her eyes then drifted to their backyard. "And I'm sure father will get you started on the next phase of our clan's jutsu. But don't forget everything else, search for that knowledge both within and outside of the clan."

Silence fell between them as Shikamaru considered the next move, his hand less hesitant on his choice.

"Do you think I could have done anything differently?"

"It doesn't matter, Shika." She sighed as she moved her piece, opening a clear line to win the match, Shikamaru huffing as he noticed it too. "No one died, that is all a strategist can hope for on a failed mission."

"Does it get any easier?"

"Harder, actually." Shizuka gave him a wry smile, reaching over to ruffle his hair. "More responsibilities as we move up. But trust that you have a support system, that you will continuously improve and that your efforts will be rewarded by the _King._ "

With that she gave a last glance at the board that Shikamaru had turned to study, his eyes dissecting the position of the pieces as if trying to backtrack to where the scales tipped over.

"You'll be a fine commander, otouto."

"Not before you."

The siblings shared a smile before putting the board and pieces away, each returning to their rooms to rest before dinner.

* * *

The next day Kaito and Shizuka were sitting at a table at a tea shop after submitting their report for their delayed mission. They were waiting for Masaru to join them for their regular team meetings, which wouldn't include Kouta as the man was on a mission.

"Ah, but we can't just plant moles like that. It would take a very long period of adaptation and considering the survival rate of the tests we couldn't even guarantee that." Shizuka shook her head. "Besides, Jackal has another task force in the works, one with better chances."

"I can't believe you're now a captain and now get to sit in on the planning meetings." Kaito snickered taking a sip from his glass of water, his eyes moving around the room to try to spot his boyfriend. "Can you help me escape the guard duties? Please, can't stand those stuck up nobles."

"Already asking for favours." Shizuka shook her head and grinned before leaning back in her seat. "I've got a meeting with Jackal after this, about the new infiltration."

"You're anxious. Do you know what it's about specifically?"

"I have an idea, I just hope I'm wrong." Shizuka mumbled one finger tracing the rim of her cup as she stared out the window. "For him to not have brought it up in a meeting other than informing that there is a possibility…"

"He's keeping it quiet." Kaito hummed, his eyes tracing over his teammate's features. "So it's probably a big one, S-Rank perhaps?"

Shizuka didn't reply but her hazel eyes met his dark honey-coloured ones.

"And there aren't that many groups under investigation that would need such a rank." Kaito's eyes narrowed on her as she looked away. "It's not the snake, that one is public so that leaves-"

"Hey, Masa." Shizuka cut him off to smile softly at her approaching teammate.

"You know you don't have to stop when I get here, right?" Masaru grumbled as he took a seat next to Kaito. "It's not like I don't know what you are."

"We know, Masa, it's just this time it's way too sensitive." Shizuka explained, her eyes watching him carefully for any reaction, knowing he often got annoyed at their secrecy.

"Because I don't have the clearance." Masaru sighed and rolled his eyes. "Have you ordered yet?"

"No, we were waiting for you." Kaito gave him a tense smile. "The usual then?"

He got to answering nods and soon enough they started on their meal. The conversation was a bit more restricted than usual as they talked about their current projects but otherwise flowed as they started discussing their sensei's increasingly busy mission schedule.

Once they finished eating and no more topics came to mind, they broke away to continue with the rest of their days. Kaito and Masaru would enjoy a lazy afternoon in before Kaito had guard duty and Shizuka sped away towards ANBU headquarters for her meeting with Jackal.

She was called into the ANBU commander's office as soon as she knocked and with some amusement, she noticed the picture of Jackal's teammates was turned away from the entrance.

Noticing where her gaze had drifted, Jackal let out an exasperated sigh and put the pen down on the desk.

"Chipmunk, good, you're here." He shuffled the papers around until he found a stack of papers he was looking for as well as a scroll with the S-Rank seal, passing both on to her. "I figured you have figured I wanted to discuss the task force?"

"Hai. And that it's about the Akatsuki. And that I'll somehow be involved."

"Logical conclusions. And all true. There is more to it, but first, we must wait for the last person to arrive.

Shizuka tilted her head curiously at him, but her eyes narrowed as she heard the clanking of a cane in the corridor followed by a knock.

"Come in, Danzō-Sama."

Shizuka gave the commander another look before sitting at one of the chairs available to start reading the information packet she'd been given.

"Jackal, Nara, I trust you're both up to date?"

"I'm familiar with all of this information." Shizuka confirmed, placing the papers on the desk and crossing her arms. "What's the plan then?"

"Solo undercover operation in a village near the village hidden in the Rain, six month's duration." Danzō tapped his cane on the ground impatiently and Shizuka barely spared him a glance before turning to Jackal.

"Had that part figured out as I'm the only person here. Time is relatively standard and I'm assuming on the shorter end of the estimation." Shizuka slipped into the stereotypical Nara posture with a slump and half-lidded gaze. "So, now tell me, what is the _plan._ "

She held in a snicker as Danzō's chakra flickered in annoyance and Jackal's in exasperation. She breathed out and kept her posture as the two men considered her carefully.

"The scroll has your cover story, I trust you can memorise that quickly enough. As Danzō-Sama stated, it's a solo operation near the hidden Rain, if you can infiltrate that, all the better, but it's not strictly necessary."

' _So ideally it's what I should do. But unspoken as it goes too far into the 'invading unknown territory'.'_ Shizuka nodded slowly and thumbed the scroll in her lap.

"Who knows of the specifics?"

"Only us in the room. Your father, the Hokage, Jiraiya-Sama are aware of the general parameters. Inoichi and Ibiki are aware you'll be on a mission for the task force, but nothing other than you'll be collecting information."

"Right, so pretty standard protocol. Backup options?"

"None available. Any extraction to be done shall be of your own making." Danzō replied his tone indifferent. "I trust you can manage."

Shizuka held in a snappy comment and judging from the flicker in Jackal's chakra she was sure he was thankful for her restraint.

"We don't have many people capable of this type of infiltration, and making it a solo reduces the risk of being found out." Jackal explained, earning himself a deadpan look from the Nara.

"Had that figured out too. When do I leave?"

"As soon as possible." Danzō replied, his cane clicking against the cold floor as he moved to sit on the other chair opposite Jackal.

"We should go over the details then." With a sigh, Shizuka leaned forward and opened the mission scroll.

For the next three hours, they went over any plans already in place, cover stories and Shizuka outlined vague possibilities of extraction, but kept the details to herself as she would still be working through them through the night.

* * *

Hours later, Shizuka arrived home to the smell of dinner and the quiet sound of chatter coming from the kitchen.

"Tadaima!" She called her family as she toed off her boots at the entrance before walking into the kitchen and ruffling her brother's wet hair.

"Okaeri, Nee-San," Shikamaru replied with a scowl as he tried to slap her hands away. "You're home later than usual today."

"Yeah, I got called in for an emergency debrief." Shizuka gave them a tired smile and sat down before meeting her father's raised eyebrow. "Six-month undercover operation, I leave tomorrow at noon."

She had decided on her walk home to just tell her family instead of stalling and waiting until after dinner. As her mother so kindly pointed out so many times before, she sucked at lying to them and she didn't want them to worry throughout dinner before she told them.

"Oh, dear." Her mother walked to the table with the steaming food, but as she lowered the pan Shizuka caught sight of the slight tremble in her hands. "Will you be able to contact us?"

"Not directly, I'll try to set up a rotation with the Spectrum to get the information back as I progress, but I don't want to risk the operation, so it'll likely be no contact for at least half of the time."

Yoshino nodded solemnly and moved to bring the last of the food, but her father put his hand atop hers and moved to the counters instead, his hands steadier as he lowered the food to the table.

Silence filled the atmosphere for a moment before Shikamaru exhaled loudly breaking the tension.

"Everyone is leaving." He huffed before starting to make his plate, the other three automatically following suit.

"It's only for a little while." Shizuka nudged him with her shoulder before her smile turned mischievous. "You better have some scratches on that shiny new vest of yours when I get back, or else I'll be sure to put them there myself."

"Troublesome." Though his expression seemed bored his eyes twinkled with the challenge. "You better not get rusty in the next six months."

Shizuka grinned at him before sharing a smile with her father. From that point on dinner was a pleasant affair with light-hearted chatter and laughter. Although Shizuka often caught her mother and brother sending a few glances her way while her father just gave her a single nod when their eyes met across the table.

' _I'll miss this.'_ Shizuka let a sad smile flicker on her lips as she helped her father wash the dishes. _'But it has to be done.'_

* * *

Shizuka woke up at four in the morning to make sure her pack had everything she would need for her mission. She hadn't expected to see anyone of her family up at this time since she had said goodbye before heading to bed but found her father slumped over a cup of coffee at the table.

"Good morning, Tō-San." Planting a kiss on his cheek before moving to make herself some breakfast she turned to her father as she gestured to the eggs she was about to make herself.

"Yes, please. Thank you." He replied, his voice still deep with sleep. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I can be." She didn't turn to look at him and kept her attention on the pan in front of her, but she still felt his gaze on her back. "I'm familiar with the protocols, I have already compiled a few backup plans in case of emergencies. My cover story is ready…"

"As expected, but that's not really what I was asking."

Shizuka didn't answer immediately and took the time to put bread into the toaster and waited until she finished cracking the eggs before turning to lean her hip on the counter so that she could keep both the pan and her father in sight.

"I have everything ready in my mind. Arrival, plant, how to gather information, what to do if it goes south…" She sighed as she gave the eggs a scramble. "But no matter how thoroughly we plan it's rarely ever enough for missions such as this."

Shikaku hummed but made no move to interrupt her from her thought process.

"All I can do is to ensure I have a clear mind to adapt to any situations that arise." Shizuka frowned as she took the eggs off the stove and split them into plates, adding the toast to each plate. "I'm terrified, but I'm probably one of the most suited for this as I will have more control and options than most."

"So, are you ready?"

"Is anyone ever?" Shizuka gave him a wry smile which he answered with a soft look. "I'm as ready as anyone being thrown into this situation is, maybe I'm more organised than most. But no less terrified."

"You'll do well," Shikaku affirmed, his eyes dancing over her face. "Don't underestimate your abilities. Everyone that has done so has regretted it."

Shizuka snorted at his teasing tone, no doubt referring to the times she's outsmarted her babysitters to get into some form of trouble. Once the silence drifted over them again she felt much lighter, her father's words soothing her thoughts.

They finished their breakfast without speaking again, simply enjoying the company as they had done several times before and would miss in the coming months.

"I'll see you when I get back." Shizuka gave him one last smile as she stood, immediately being pulled into a hug from her father.

"Good luck."

She gave him a smile and a kiss on the cheek before heading out. As soon as she was out of the compound, she spread her senses and easily found Genma and Kaito at the ANBU headquarters, the two probably just having been released from their guard duties.

Running across rooftops and into the base, she came across Kaito's room first. Knocking on the door slightly she waited for him to call for her to enter.

"Zuka!? What are you doing here?" Kaito blinked sleepily at her from his bunk bed but sat up straight when she sat on the foot of his bed.

"Hey, Kai. I'm just here to let you know that I'll be on a six-month-long mission… I didn't want to just leave. Sensei is on a mission, so let him know… I'll find Masa before I go." She gave him a quick smile, her eyes darting to the door as she felt Genma move around in his team's room.

"That's a long time…" Kaito sighed as he swung his legs to the side of the bed so that their shoulders brushed. "We'll miss you around here."

"I'll miss all of you too." She gave him a quick hug. "I-"

"Go. You two deserve to spend some time together. Heaven knows how much time this job keeps us apart from those we love." Kaito gave her a knowing smirk as she blushed.

"See you soon, Kai." Shizuka gave him one last hug before hurrying to Genma's room, catching him just as he left.

"Doe? What are you doing here at this time?" He asked between a big yawn, his eyes falling onto the mission pack strapped to her back. "Oh."

"Yeah. Um… Can we go to yours?" She stepped closer and laced the fingers of their hands together.

"Of course." He squeezed her hand and then they were off towards his apartment.

They travelled in silence and even after arriving they only broke the silence after they had removed their shoes and settled on the couch.

"I've been given a long undercover operation." She told him quietly as she rested her head on his chest, her hand playing with his fingers. "Six months, I leave at noon today."

"Solo?"

"Hai, I'll be setting up a rotation with a Spectrum informant to check in after the halfway mark. I don't want to raise any suspicions…"

Genma hummed and when she glanced up at his face, he had a frown tugging at his lips.

"Any backup plans?" When she stayed quiet and his frown deepened. "Who are you investigating?"

"Gen…"

"Undercovers with no backups are only done either when they are pathetically easy or when the backup is more likely to be a liability. _Who_ are you investigating?"

"Akatsuki."

" _Fuck_." Genma sat up and ran a hand down his face, while Shizuka sat beside him with her legs curled under her.

"It's a solid plan, I probably won't have to interact with them at all."

Silence filled the air again while Shizuka let him digest the information. After several minutes she was about to speak up when he suddenly turned to her and pulled her against him, his nose buried in her hair as they moved to lay down again.

"Just be careful." He planted a kiss on her head, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss, her eyes fluttering open once they broke apart. "And come back to me."

"Always." She gave him another peck before tucking her head under his chin, enjoying the comfort of being with him.

The couple spent the next few hours together, cuddling and talking softly about nothing in particular. As the sun started to reach its apex, Shizuka pulled away and gave him a last lingering kiss.

"It's time." She moved to stand and Genma wrapped an arm around her shoulder before planting a kiss on her temple.

"I'll see you soon."

She gave him one last smile and a small kiss before heading towards the door to get her bag and shoes. Genma saw her out and watched from his door as she left the building towards where she knew Masa and Kaito's new apartment was.

Knocking softly on the door, a rumpled Masaru opened the door giving her a confused look.

"Please tell me you're not dragging Kai on another mission."

"Not this time, Masa. I've talked to him already, so I came to say goodbye to you. I'll be undercover for the next six months." She gave him a small shrug at his surprised face. "I'm on my way out now, actually. I didn't want to leave without a goodbye. Sensei is out of the village, so if you and Kai could-"

"Of course." Masaru interrupted before giving her a small nod. "We'll miss having you around, Zuka."

"Thanks." She gave him a small smile before waving as she left. "See you later, Masa."

Her former teammate gave her a wave before disappearing back inside the apartment.

With everything in order, she left through the ANBU passage, checking in with the squad on duty and going over the plan and protocols one last time before officially starting her mission.

' _It'll be a long six months.'_

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments:**

 **Lillyyyyy**

Thank you! It wasn't the worst exam season I've ever been through and I think it went well. :D

Aaaww! That's so sweet! Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it so much, comments like these really make my day.

 **neatfreak16**

Hello! Aww welcome! Always makes me happy to hear from new (and old) readers. :D Thank you! Glad you're enjoying the story! :)


	43. Doodles and Writing

**/AN\**

 **Hey!**

 **Happy New Year everyone!**

 ***** JUST A REMINDER THE SURVEY LINK IS AS FOLLOWS *****

 **Go to Surveymonkey, and add at the end of the link /r/** **T3GFXQ3**

 **It's only for chapter 39 so it will be open for a while.**

 **Hope you enjoy it!**

 **xx**

 **SC**

* * *

"Speaking."

' _Thinking'_

 _ **Jutsus**_

* * *

 **Chapter 43 - Doodles and Writing**

 **Day 4**

Shizuka arrived at the town of Asadaka at two in the afternoon. It had been chosen as Shizuka's base because it was the closest town to Amegakure, which is where most of the leads on the Akatsuki were leading.

The first three days of travel had been running at a fast pace, and she had luckily had a clear path towards her destination. On the fourth day, she had walked at a civilian pace through the morning and early afternoon as she approached the town, not wanting to raise suspicions.

The civilians in the town were surprisingly friendly despite the grim weather they had and they took pity on Shizuka's drenched figure. An old couple allowed her into their modest home once she explained her 'story'.

The plan was that she would become a barmaid at a local tavern that was often frequented by shinobi of the Rain. Her backstory was that she was an orphan that had recently reached her majority and decided to leave her hometown near the border with Earth Country.

The old couple had been a lucky shot and as they didn't have kids of their own despite trying they happily accepted the girl running from her past in search of a new life into their home.

The woman, Asa, was a sweet old lady, with greying hair and warm brown eyes. She was shorter than average and even Shizuka stood slightly above her. She always wore soft worn cotton yukatas which were still clearly of good quality.

The man, Genjiro, had wrinkles of someone who had laughed a lot in life. He was a cheerful man, providing friendly conversation to anyone who approached and it was him that initially approached her as he saw her dirty and drenched form walk through the street.

She felt bad for lying to them as they were honestly trying to help her but having their support would make her mission that much easier.

' _Now, to get that job.'_ With a sigh, Shizuka settled into her warm bed for the night, repeating to herself the same words she had said to her precious people not long ago. _'I'll see them when I get back.'_

* * *

 **Day 6**

"When can you start?" Seiichi the owner of the tavern asked her as he gave her an appraising glance as he watched her fidget with the cloth he'd given her to test her skills.

Seiichi had brassy hair and dull brown eyes with a thick beard and moustache to complete the look. He was a retired shinobi from the rain, short and stocky he was a close-range specialist and had lost his leg in a confrontation on a mission and returned to his hometown to take over his father's business.

He had been suspicious of Shizuka at first, shinobi retired or not, shinobi were a paranoid sort. She had made an extra effort to knock into some tables, and seem generally less graceful and a good deal clumsier than any half-decent kunoichi.

Shizuka was eternally grateful the Nara didn't have anything striking to them. As preparation for the mission, she cut her hair to have bangs framing her face and now the back reached just past her shoulder blades as opposed to the middle of her back. Removing all her shinobi gear in favour of baggier clothes chosen specifically for being the wrong size and in plainer materials, she looked and felt like another person.

"Uh, whenever you wish, sir," Shizuka replied, ducking her head down and allowing her recently cut bangs to fall over her eyes.

"You'll have to grow a spine in here," The man sighed at her meek posture but shook his head. "But perhaps staying out of the way will help you in the long run, little mouse."

Shizuka held in a snort at the nickname he had given her when she had first arrived in the establishment to seek the position of a barmaid.

"We open in a few hours, why don't you get changed into the uniform and then come back out to help get everything ready. Rei, please help the little mouse find a suitable uniform."

Rei was a tall and tan woman, with short greenish hair kept half up half down to keep it from bothering her while she worked. She was the most experienced waitress in the bar and her grey eyes twinkled with mischief as she observed Shizuka, or 'Haya' as she was known to these people.

"Come, Haya-chan." Rei waved her on towards the back, past the door to the storage room and into the small room where the workers could leave their things while they worked.

Once she had given Shizuka a little stack of clothes for her to change into she returned to the bar.

Changing quickly, she put on the loose black pants, sniffing as they were large on her hips forcing her to use a belt to keep it in place and a soft cotton grey kimono style shirt that the other workers wore and closed it with the provided sash.

Moving downstairs she settled back into her shy persona and followed the orders quietly, keeping an ear out for any valuable gossip.

* * *

 **Day 21**

"They are impossible! The city rocks with the explosions of the loud-mouthed one and you can hear the immortal dual approaching by the cursing! Never a moment of peace!"

Shizuka wiped the tables but kept her focus on the pair of shinobi that had arrived an hour earlier and had proved to be an endless source of information, even if it wasn't stats on the actual members, anything to help recognise them was welcomed.

She had to admit the inner workings of the criminal group were interesting. An immortal dual that got on each others' nerves, the artist duo that argued about the best form of art and Itachi and Kisame who seemed to have the most standard and efficient partnership.

Another useful information is what they were doing and where they were heading. From previous reports, she knew they were after jinchūriki so that narrowed the search by an enormous amount.

From that list, the One-Tails, in Suna would be occupied with the Chūnin Exams Suna was hosting alongside Konoha, which would be starting one of these days. That would provide some safety to him and Naruto was safe with Jiraiya.

The eight-tails was in Kumo, doing whatever it is that he did, and from the reports she had of him, he was strong enough to caution an approach.

That left six potential targets for them to chase. After the Yondaime Mizukage Yagura died, no one had information on the Sanbi. Two tails was in Kumo sealed into some girl if Shizuka's sources were to be believed, as long as she stayed within their borders the Akatsuki wouldn't go after her immediately. And the four tails was kept in Iwa and was reported to have a pretty decent control over his bijuu.

Leaving the five tails in Iwa, six tails in a rogue Kiri nin, and seven tails in reportedly Takigakure. Considering the number of Akatsuki members and how they operated in pairs, Shizuka was willing to bet those would be their first targets.

And it wasn't like they were in a hurry and the group had stayed out of the spotlight for quite some time. Konoha's interest was initially due to Orochimaru's participation, then to keep an eye on Itachi and also to ensure Naruto would be safe.

With that in mind, Shizuka kept some extra attention on anything related to those three nations hoping that a more concrete timeline of their plans could be developed.

' _Hope something interesting comes in… Otherwise, Jackal will only have a report full of drunk shinobi gossip.'_ Shizuka held in a snicker at the reaction she imagined Jackal would have. _'Maybe I should add in a few doodles to at least keep him entertained.'_

* * *

 **Day 30**

Shizuka watched from the window as a family of four walked down the street. Each parent holding the hand of a child as they walked together towards the market at the centre of the town.

As the family disappeared around the corner she closed her eyes as she felt a pang of sadness deep in her heart.

There was always a part of her longing to be with her family back in Konoha, but one month into her mission is when she felt the first real wave of homesickness.

As she watched the quiet town go about their morning she thought of how her own family would spend the time.

Lazy mornings with her father watching and feeding the deer, later they were joined by Shikamaru on those quiet days. Going to the market with her mother, occasionally tugging a reluctant Shikamaru with them.

Every day there was one thing or another that would remind her of home. From groups of friends at the bar teasing each other to families going about their days, to a drifting smell in the breeze.

The mission was running smoothly enough that she was confident she'd be able to report back to Konoha with minimal effort. And whilst delivering her first report she was hoping to receive messages from her loved ones.

At least that was the goal. She would start putting into motion the plans to send the reports within the next month which would only be sent to Konoha at the halfway mark of three months.

Until then Shizuka would have to hold on to the memories playing in her mind until she could see them once again.

' _One month down, five more to go.'_

* * *

 **Day 41**

Shizuka opened the door to the house and glanced at the sky as it poured down rain on the little town. With a sigh, she considered the path she should take to the bar.

' _Long way less mud, shortcut and I'll be covered…'_ As she glanced up and down the street considering her options she caught sight of the old man on his balcony in the building in front of hers. _'He has a perfect view of my room, the front door and part of the living room.'_

She hadn't seen him there before, hence it easily caught her eye. His eyes were fixed on her house, at the moment she reasoned it was only because she was the only person out and about braving the rain.

With a mental shrug and a reminder to keep an eye out she took the long with less mud, she had just given her shoes a clean a few days ago and she would have time to dry off before her shift.

After that encounter, Shizuka spent the entire day second-guessing everything she saw.

Was that bird staring at her window? No, it was just resting on the post.

Was that shinobi following or did he just happen to move into the building next door? It had been on sale before and she vaguely remembers people moving furniture up the stairs.

Why has the dumpster moved to the other side of the alley? It now provides better cover if someone wanted to watch the house she lived in.

At every occasion, she shrugged it off, although she decided to stay alert for a few days just in case. Shinobi were paranoid people, and with good reason. Things like this could save you and your mission, and Shizuka wasn't about to just ignore her instincts.

' _Hope I'm imagining things… It's too early to be figured out.'_

* * *

 **Day 60**

Shizuka held in a grin as she approached the market stalls selling all sorts of art supplies. Her eyes dancing around the familiar items of paints, brushes, canvases and more.

"Hello, has anything caught your eye, miss?"

"Canvas, and an Akarui collection, please." With a smile, she exchanged the items for a coin purse. "Will you be in the market again, just so that I know how much I should stock."

"Oh, I'd say I'll return in a month." With a sleight of hand, he slipped her a note as they shook hands. "I also buy artwork, show me something good enough and I'll buy it off you."

"Wonderful." With another smile, Shizuka placed the canvas under her arm and the paints in the woven basket before continuing down the street, occasionally buying some items to cook dinner with.

For the rest of the day, she kept sending the basket glances as she flitted about the town handling everything she needed and the small errands her hosts had asked of her. The large market had coincided with her one day free from work, after much planning on her side. With her tasks for the day complete, she retreated to her room after dinner to start on her first report.

The first thing she would do on the canvas was ink the basic single-use storage seal she was taught once she joined ANBU, specific for situations such as this. It would later be covered in a protective layer and then coated with paint to hide it from view.

The scroll she would seal into it had several layers of protection, specifically created for Konoha ANBU and with the Spectrum, she didn't worry about it's safe delivery to the village. She also knew that whoever received the painting, likely Jackal, would also get a packet of information straight from the Spectrum since she wouldn't be there to mediate.

Using the seal as the starting point she started her painting, a small herd of deer resting under a broad tree to escape the pouring rain around them. It was a little on the nose, but the image brought a small smile to her lips whenever she saw it in the corner of her room.

* * *

 **Day 81**

With the deadline for her first report to the village approaching, Shizuka was in a relative hurry to build up the profiles on the members of the Akatsuki. It was a rather tedious job and despite their infamy in the area she struggled to get any concrete information on their abilities.

But useful information wasn't limited to abilities, but rather spanned to other areas such as appearances, relationships and their character.

She even managed to pickpocket an updated bingo book from Amegakure and added that to her report. Foreign bingo books were not often easy to find, especially of a village like the hidden Rain that often evaded the other nations.

There were two scrolls, five members in each, some lacking more information than others, but Shizuka wasn't too discouraged as it was only her first report back and it would most likely only help to guide the rest of her investigation and help the people back in the village to sort through the information they had.

Every night, she would write in the scroll, keeping it hidden under a floorboard until she could seal it into the drawing once it was ready. With a little over a week to go until the market, she focused on getting every piece of information into the report.

Hopefully her father, Inoichi or Ibiki would be kind enough to keep her wall updated, she didn't want to imagine the pile of reports she'd have to add to the wall otherwise.

* * *

 **Day 90 - Halfway Mark**

Much like the last time she was at the big market, she carried a little basket to put the items she purchased. She couldn't hide the skip in her step despite her attempts to tone it down. And like last time one of her first stops was the stand selling art products.

"Ah! You've returned! Are you planning on selling your work?"

"Hai! Here it is." Shizuka took the little painting and passed it on to the vendor who appraised the painting carefully before turning to her with raised eyebrows. "What do you think?"

"A lady of many talents, Haya-chan." The vendor gave her a wink and gestured to the products up for sale. "Pick what you'd like and we'll exchange your work for more supplies. I recommend the newest pallet there, it's been a popular choice in my previous stop."

Shizuka's heart fluttered as she recognised the code and eagerly accepted, adding some different items to throw out any suspicion of a pattern. Once the payment was settled she moved on to the other stalls.

She later returned to the house to drop off her purchases and help the old woman, XXX, to make lunch. Even though she tried to make conversation as she usually did, her mind kept drifting to the packet she received from home and what it could possibly contain.

That night, she spent hours reading the letters from her family as well as the information packets from the task force in the village and the Spectrum. Surprisingly even Jiraiya had sent a note with advice on what to keep an eye out for.

The next day and all that followed, Shizuka felt all the much lighter, comforted in knowing that everything was well at home and that they were looking forward to their reunion as much as she was.

* * *

 **Day 109**

Twenty days after receiving the small letters from home Shizuka would still find herself reaching for the little notes in the middle of the night to read. Sometimes she would pull her parents' letter, or her brother's or Genma's, but this one night she had pulled all three.

She should technically be sealing them away or destroying them to avoid the risk of them being found, but she couldn't bare doing it to the physical reminder she had of them.

Lying in bed, under the light of the moon, she ran her thumb over their words.

 _Chūnin Exams are starting soon. I didn't expect this to be one of my first tasks as a Chūnin. You'd enjoy coming up with a task for the Genin, it's right up your alley._

Shikamaru's message gave him some general information on what was happening with the Rookies and even Team 4 had a mention, saying Kouta was tasked with getting some info on her status and that they sent their well wishes.

 _The house has been too quiet and the boys complain about their extra chores, but I think it's more because they miss you rather than the extra effort._

Her mother's note spoke of the clan and how they were dealing with everything. No doubt Shikamaru had been attending more clan meetings and had to be more involved with those as she wasn't around. Though she also relayed some other comments on how they found a little raccoon den in the forest and built a little shelter for the creatures who enjoyed using their backyard as a place to nap.

 _You're about to enter a critical stage. Everything on our end is ready, no red flags have come up. Stay focused. We are eagerly looking forward to your return._

Her father's note contained some information and advice as well as some reassurances to settle any doubts she had. She put the notes in the little hidden compartment under the paint palette she had bought at the market.

With the three notes from her family secured, she took out the last and shortest note.

Genma's note was a simple statement saying he was well and that their colleagues missed having me around to tease. But it was the last two sentences that stuck with Shizuka and that she kept at the front of her mind as something to look forward to.

 _Don't forget your promise. Come back to me._

* * *

 **Day 122**

Shizuka's daily routine had become rather boring as she crossed the four-month mark.

She would wake up early and do some quick writing and doodling for her reports before checking they would be securely sealed for the day to make sure no one would find them. The rest of her morning would be having breakfast with Asa and Genjiro before they each went off to their daily activities.

She would eventually join Rei and they would get anything they needed to stock up on for the shift later, running any errands Seiichi passed on to them and in Shizuka's case, buy groceries for the house.

During this time she would use Rei as a funnel for the gossip as the woman seemed to be in the know of who would be in town and would cheerfully answer any of Shizuka's questions about their clients.

Once all of that was done, Shizuka would drop the groceries for Asa at the house, have a quick shower and then help cook lunch. Genjiro would always join them as he worked in a factory nearby. She would help with the dishes before heading to the bar where her routine had the most changes each day.

Occasionally she would assist in the kitchen, chopping vegetables, or stirring broth or whatever the head cook needed. Under the pretence of her cover story, she had to be extra careful with the knives and allowed the knife to slip a few times earning her a cut or two on her fingers.

Some days she would stay behind the bar, others she would walk around the floor serving each table. But what never changed was that she would help both set up before having a bento that Asa would prepare for her and after the last client left she would help with the cleanup.

Her days in the kitchen were the ones she collected the least amount of information, but there wasn't much she could do about it, and she tried to listen in whenever she had a break. It was at the very least, a good way of maintaining her cover as no spy would want to be there as they would miss the opportunity for collecting information.

When everything was cleaned she would return to the house to have a quick shower to wash away the smell of sweat, booze and food before making notes for the reports and sleeping.

The next day, everything repeated.

* * *

 **Day 134**

' _Is that a black cloak with red clouds?'_ Shizuka moved around the stalls of the market, putting Rei between her and the figure she had spotted at the far end of the market street. _'Is it too much to hope it's a black cloak with red dots?'_

She caught sight of the straw hat and all her hopes collapsed in her mind.

' _Of course.'_ With a string of curses, Shizuka really tried to pay attention to what Rei was saying, but between making sure she was out of sight while trying to get a view of who it was and paying attention to what the tall woman was saying, Shizuka was failing.

"Are you alright, Haya-chan?" Rei put a hand on her arm, drawing Shizuka's eyes to hers.

"Hai, Rei-San. I- I just felt the homesickness hit." Shizuka ducked her head, frowning and hoping she looked as miserable as she would be feeling for the rest of the day. "I'll be alright, come, let's finish these errands."

Rei watched her carefully but she gave Shizuka's arm a soft squeeze and a kind smile before tugging her away from the stall and towards their next destination.

The afternoon was a blur, Shizuka was vaguely aware that the bar was fuller than usual with a lot more shinobi present, which meant increased patrols, much to her despair. She felt like for the rest of the day her brain simply wouldn't cooperate with what she needed to do.

' _Wait, if they are always in pairs and I only saw one… Where is the other?'_ Shizuka was startled as she let her mind drift. _'Fuck.'_

Jumping, she looked down at her bleeding finger.

' _Double fuck.'_ With a sigh, she reached for a clean towel and waved at the head cook gesturing vaguely to the bathroom where they kept a stock of band-aids and bandages for such events. _'Maybe I should stay focused when chopping food.'_

* * *

 **Day 141**

The following week was hell as she observed more and more patrols within the village and its surrounding area.

Not being able to use her chakra and keeping it at a compressed level to make it more compatible with that of a civilian was grating, especially to a sensor. Whenever she released it there would be a rubber band effect and it would snap back at her, guaranteeing a pounding headache and probably a harder time controlling it.

Every day, she would double-check her sealed reports and notes, and had to remind herself that civilians don't check every room in a house because that was the behaviour of a paranoid veteran shinobi.

It took ten days or her to notice the patrols decreasing again, not quite to the frequency it had been when she arrived but a lot less frequent than when the Akatsuki member had been in town.

After two days of steadily decreasing patrols, Shizuka allowed herself to relax a bit more in her downtime, only keeping alert when in public. As each day passed, she would allow herself to relax a bit, while keeping the suspicion of whatever happened somewhat close just in case.

' _I just need to hold on a little longer.'_ Shizuka would muse to herself as she settled in bed after a long tiring day at the bar, forgoing completely the part of her routine to write things down. ' _Maybe it had nothing to do with me.'_

* * *

 **Day 143**

She hadn't escaped suspicion. Of course she hadn't. It would be too much of her to ask.

A couple of days after she had settled back into a more comfortable routine Seiichi, her boss, had invited her to help him serve at an event in Amegakure, for some merchant that had hired the bar to provide the drink and food.

Why would they ask the rookie waitress?

Easy. They wouldn't.

And that was how she found herself walking into the Village Hidden in the Rain, along with a small group of cooks, Seiichi and Rei. The journey between the town they were in and the hidden village was rather short and they had a team of shinobi escort them to the building the event would be hosted in.

Outside the establishment, they were greeted by a soft blue-haired woman. She wore her hair in a high bun with a paper rose stuck to the side and her orange-amber eyes watched their approach calmly.

"That is God's Angel," Rei whispered to her as they approached, her eyes wide in excitement at being so close to the legendary woman. "She's done so much for the people here!"

Shizuka hummed and once they stopped in front of her she introduced herself and the merchant that had hired them, who Shizuka just noticed stood to the side of the woman.

She spared the man a short glance, but he was clearly civilian and the woman was a much more interesting subject. When their eyes met, Shizuka gave her bow and the sweetest and most innocent smile she could pull, looking at the commanding woman through her lashes.

The introductions didn't take long and the attention didn't seem to linger on her any longer than the others.

But it was as she walked through the doors to the event hall that she felt the hairs at the base of her neck stand. Turning around under the pretence of asking Rei a random question she caught the faintest glimpse of a black and red up on a high balcony overlooking the main street of the village.

' _Ah, what better place to get information than straight from the source in the enemy's home court?'_ She could just imagine Ibiki and her father's dry looks once she told them of this part.

' _At least I can get some proper sketches into my report.'_ Shizuka drily mused as she was led into the room where she would change for what was likely to be the longest shift of her life.

* * *

 **Day 147**

Returning to the town at the border was anticlimactic.

Patrols were again raised, but Shizuka had accepted that she would have no more peace for the rest of her time there. Ideally, she would have enough information to leave in a month, and in her opinion, she was reaching the point that continuing the mission was more dangerous than leaving with bits of information missing.

The two days she spent since her return were normal, as they had been before even if she felt more eyes on her than before.

It was the night of the second day that Shizuka realised just how precarious her situation was.

There at the end of the bar, in the very corner against the back wall where they could see the rest of the room, were two figures she had never seen before.

Two men in black cloaks with red clouds.

And it was her shift behind the bar.

Obviously.

' _For fuck's sake. Can't I catch a break?!'_ Taking a deep breath, Shizuka collected herself before cautiously approaching the two of them.

"Good evening, shinobi-San. Is there anything I can get you?"

"Are you even fucking old enough to work here?" The thinner, grey-haired man asked her as he eyes her up in down, his eyes catching on her breasts and hips. "You're fucking tiny!"

"Shut up, idiot." The bulkier, masked man growled. "Whatever drink is cheapest, we're not here to spend much."

With a quick head bow, she scuttled away, making sure to bump into the bar and the cup cabinet, causing the glasses to clink and shake. Bringing back two cups she poured them the drinks and spilt some for an added layer of clumsiness.

"You're new here." Kakuzu stated as he pulled his drink closer, sniffing it before drinking. "Where are you from?"

' _He's from Takigakure. Wish I could just prod at their chakra, but that would not end well…'_ With a mental grimace, she gave the man a shy shrug.

"I'm an orphan from a town near the border with Earth country." She answered with a wrinkle of her nose. "There wasn't a future for me there."

They continued staring at her, waiting for her to continue, clearly not satisfied with her bland answer. She shrunk into herself and fiddled with the bandages on her forearm where she had burnt herself on a hot pan the previous day.

"You're running then." Kakuzu narrowed his eyes on her, his tone prodding as he tried to get more information out of her. "What are you running from, I wonder. And why here, of all places?"

"This is fucking stupid." Hidan rolled his eyes, slamming down his drink after downing it. "The bitch is a nobody trying to run from a meaningless life. So she gets a pathetic job as a maid."

"Hidan!" Kakuzu growled, turning his head to glare at the other male. "You shouldn't have come here, girl."

She blinked at him, deciphering if it was a simple comment or a threat, but to be on the safe side she gave him a wide-eyed stare and after a quick bow she moved to serve the rest of the people sitting around the bar.

For the rest of the night, she felt their gazes on her back and she had to consciously remind herself of her character: clumsy civilian barmaid. With shy giggles at the drunks flirting with her and meekness as she approached any client, she wasn't approached by the two Akatsuki members for anything else.

The night couldn't end soon enough.

* * *

 **Day 150**

What was it that she told Genma: 'I probably won't have to interact with them at all.'

She was well past that point now.

' _Well, fuck.'_ She thought as she watched the market stall where her Spectrum contact was talking to two members of the Akatsuki. _'This is taking a turn for the worse.'_

She thumbed the canvas she had made with her newest reports nervously before she decided to not sell it. Instead, she hid it behind the stall selling candles and approached the Spectrum stall hesitantly.

The vendor quickly glanced her way and after ensuring the Akatsuki members were satisfied browsing he approached her.

"Good morning, is there anything I can get you?"

"What is the smallest palette you have? I don't need much as I have some remaining paints from last time."

The vendor offered her a palette which she swiftly exchanged for the money before putting the product in the woven basket she carried. As she stepped back to move as far away from the market as possible one of the Akatsuki members called back at her.

"You seem like a regular at this market. How well do these paints work on wood?" There was something unsettling about the hunched man.

' _This must be the puppeteer Sasori of the Red Sand.'_ Shizuka thought as she shuffled her feet nervously. _'This isn't looking too good for me.'_

"I've never tried painting wood, only canvas."

"That's boring." The blonde companion scoffed his eyes drifting over the art products before settling on her. "Art should be explosive, it's the best kind of art, un. But plain paintings are dull compared to even the stupid puppets."

"To each their own." Shizuka strained a smile before turning around, making sure to bump her hip on the stall making the small table shake slightly, the glass tubs of paint tinkling softly together at the jostle. "Sorry."

Ducking her head she moved back in the direction she came, absently pulling the canvas she had hidden back under her arm as she walked to the other side of the market.

' _I still have a cover to try to maintain. Can't leave without getting more food but need to avoid those two.'_ With a sigh, Shizuka continued through her day, her eyes darting in every direction whenever she noticed someone moving her way or whenever she heard a loud sound. _'This month will be hell.'_

Despite nothing happening for the rest of the day, she couldn't deny that the hairs at the back of her neck stood and at the back of her mind she knew she was being watched carefully now.

Who it was and what their intentions were would only be revealed in due time. And for now, Shizuka just had to live with it.

It was later that night, as she exited through the backdoor of the bar to throw out the trash after her shift at the bar that she felt someone watching her again. But throughout the day she had felt eyes on her but knew they would have to think before they acted, now in the dark of the alley they had an opportunity to attack, yet they didn't.

This was enough to allow Shizuka to at least think rationally on her instincts that were yelling at her to get the hell out of there. Taking a deep breath to try to calm her racing heartbeat, she waited patiently to see if whoever was watching would make the first move.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed a cloaked figure step forward so that their shadow was cast on the wall beside the dumpster she stood by.

The pair stood in silence for a minute before

"I didn't expect to meet you here, Bloodstone."

* * *

 **Day 155**

The days after her encounter with Bloodstone left her troubled. Asa and Genjiro tried to cheer her up, they made her favourite food, they spent hours playing cards and talking with her but her mind was stuck in the warning her informant had given her.

 _You're being watched and your cover is hanging by a thread. Get out while you can._

He hadn't given her much information other than that and she was conflicted on what she should do.

She hadn't completed the six month time for the mission and she knew she could get a lot of information in one month, however, the cost of that could be her life if she were to believe her informant. She could risk the information she had to maybe get more by entering unscripted territory or she could cut the losses and return safely to the village.

There would be one more market before the six months were over and it would happen almost a week before she was to leave and with that, she was supposed to send the third information packet and an idea of when to expect her return.

She had already missed the information drop because she couldn't go through the exchange with the Akatsuki members watching and that alone would send the people in the village a message that things weren't looking good. But if she missed the last check-in completely then the situation would be dire.

If she decided to leave early, she had the chance of being followed which meant going straight to Konoha a bad idea. She'd have to do some running around, hopefully giving the impression she was from some other village. This meant that the chances of her arriving in Konoha before the date of the third information drop was extremely unlikely.

The crunch of gravel behind her startled her out of her thoughts and she spun around clutching her chest as her eyes scanned the empty street.

She should have known better than to get distracted so late at night. She shouldn't have let her guard down so low, no matter how many times she had walked this path from the bar to the old couple's house. Mistakes like that got you killed.

Luckily the telltale whistle of a soaring kunai set her instincts off and her body launched into action. With a flick of her wrist, she retrieved a senbon that had been sewn into her sleeve. Admittedly it wasn't the best weapon to use to protect herself with, and she was sure she'd get a nick or two from the projectiles being launched at her.

But for the moment it was enough and other than a small cut on her knuckles she went unscathed. Bending down she grasped the hilt from a fallen kunai just in time to block a tantō aiming at her side.

' _They are going for the kill, so these guys don't want to capture me.'_ Gritting her teeth she parried another blow and spun out of the way of more incoming kunai. _'I can't lose my grip on my chakra either. These aren't guards and the last thing I need is rain shinobi on my tail as well.'_

With a grunt, she made a jab towards the man's leg and used her shoulder to shove him into the path of another enemy that had tried to approach her from behind. The sound of a tantō embedding itself into the abdomen of her original opponent was disgustingly satisfying and Shizuka used their surprise to slit the throat of the second opponent.

As the two fell to the ground still tangled together, Shizuka was already scanning the roofs for the third opponent. Catching him running through the roofs, Shizuka decided to return to her hosts' home.

' _I need to secure the information first. Once that is done I need to get the hell away from here.'_ She thought as she ran the rest of the way, barely taking a moment to take off her muddy shoes before dashing up into her room.

She took a moment to clear the room, scrambling to get everything sealed into the emergency exit kit she had been preparing since the Akatsuki members had shown up.

She had acquired a small canvas backpack and filled it with some basic rations, some dummy scrolls and a few other things she had scavenged around for. She gives a last check and leaves the cosy warm room for the last time.

She left a scribbled note apologizing to the couple for her last-minute departure and thanking them for everything they'd done for her. Biting her lip she slid the note under their door and left a small notebook full of sketches she had made of them over the last few months.

Back on the streets, she ran through alleys and the darker streets avoiding the patrolled areas and attempted to keep her steps quiet as possible without the use of chakra.

' _Fuck the backlash of keeping it compressed for so long will be awful.'_ Gritting her teeth she hovered around the corner of a building at the very outer layer of the town. _'Just a while longer… Once I'm out of bounds I'll start letting it go in portions.'_

Taking a deep breath she waited until the next patrol cleared the street, the doubled patrols setting off alarm bells in her mind.

' _Of course, they've been alerted.'_ With a last check of the street, she ran forwards. _'Well here goes nothing.'_

As she dashed around the building and launched herself up the wall surrounding the town she thanked her lucky stars her training often involved running without chakra. The moment she touched the ground on the other side she was off again, starting to slowly release her chakra from where she had been compressing it.

It didn't take her too long to reach a forested area and as soon as she did she released more of her chakra to jump to the top and between branches.

It also didn't take long for her to detect that there was a team of six shinobi following her.

' _Fuck.'_ She wasn't able to travel at her top speed because of her self-imposed chakra restriction and so it took a pathetic amount of time for them to reach her.

She wasn't arrogant enough that she couldn't admit she had her ass handed to her.

She took out one of the pursuers easily enough, an overpowered shock jab straight to his chest, which she only managed to land because she was small and managed to sneak below his guard to land her palm straight above where his heart was.

Then she used one of the man's kunai to block a katana and was therefore engaged in a kenjutsu battle for several minutes where she had absolutely not had the opportunity to attack a single time and was instead being kept on the defence. In addition to a stab wound to her thigh and a slash across her back, she also ended up suffering several small cuts and bruises as her opponent danced around her weak and short strikes.

It all ended when she got punched in the face, sending her crashing into a tree trunk before she slid to the ground gasping for air.

At that moment she heard her opponent took a step towards her, while his three remaining teammates watched carefully.

"You're the one that has people all worried?"

"That was pathetic?"

"How did you even become a kunoichi?"

The voices called from around her, but at this point, she was fairly certain she had a concussion from the punch because it felt like she was underwater with the blurry vision and muffled sounds.

She was vaguely aware of someone grasping her hair to make her look up, but all she could make out was a vague shape of a face hovering above hers as a voice asked her who she was working for.

She couldn't decipher if they were male or female or even which direction they came from as she was too focused on keeping her breathing steady and staying conscious.

What she could tell, is that in one moment there were four people ready to take her out and the next there were four muffled thumps and the sounds of garbled breathing as four people choked on their blood.

Whoever had appeared had just saved her life, so she took a moment to focus herself. She had no idea how long it took or when she had decided lying down in enemy territory while close to a potentially hostile force was a good idea, but when she regained most of her senses that was the situation she found herself in.

She panted as she rolled from her fallen position so that she could crouch, one hand putting pressure on the cut on her leg while the other reached for her pack and for the roll of bandages she had the foresight to pack.

"There are more on the way."

"Bloodstone." Surprise coloured her tone as her head snapped towards the form of her informant as he stood calmly next to one of the fallen shinobi.

"Go. You're out of time."

Shizuka gave him a stiff nod as she got back to her feet, hastily tying a bandage over her leg before launching back into the trees without casting a single look back at her informant.

* * *

 **Day 171**

Part of the mission was to ensure it couldn't be linked back to Konoha. From her last encounter, she assumed that connection hadn't been made just yet, but she had to throw them off her trail before returning home.

' _Iwa won't mind if I blamed them, right?'_ Shizuka mentally shrugged and decided to go with that plan. _'Even Iwa shinobi wouldn't head straight for their territory, so I'll have to do some travelling,'_

She planned to run towards Grass, change to go into the Wind Country, change back into Earth, move South towards Grass then Fire then deviate to Lightning and hopefully lose them by then. If not she would do a couple more turns, lead them to Iwa and maybe pick the pursuers off little by little until she was sure no one was following before officially making her way back to Konoha.

At least that was the original plan when she set off sixteen days before.

She was now at the stage of running towards Lightning while dodging Konoha ANBU, Lightning border patrols and the odd Sound ninja crossing her path.

And she had about ten days left to either kill off her pursuers or shake them off. After that, she's technically gone past the six-month prediction and she risks being declared MIA. Which was technically already a risk she was running as she didn't send off the second report and was missing her final check-in.

So in addition to the nausea of having her chakra completely unrestricted for the first time in almost six months, she still had nine persistent pursuers and had a threat of being declared MIA.

Which was by far the worst part of her little adventure because she was absolutely sure her family and friends would not be amused. Especially those who would eventually manage to get their hands on her report to hear about her slightly questionable choices.

Like the fact that she's faked a run-in with Grass and Iwa shinobi, to steal their weapons and just create a distraction for her personal pack of stalkers. Who, she had to admit were talented shinobi as they managed to more or less keep pace with her and defeated the teams of Grass and Iwa shinobi she orchestrated to intercept them.

She couldn't help but be slightly disappointed she couldn't just track the nearest ANBU squad and link up with them to take the pursuers down since that would make it slightly too obvious who she worked for.

In any case, the more she ran, the more she was certain that she would be flipping the table on them so that she could end this who thing.

And so, as she led her pursuers towards a nearby Kumo team she took a moment to centre herself.

It was time for the prey to become the predator.

* * *

 **Day 180**

It took her some time and considerable effort, but she managed to pick apart the team tracking her until there were only two left.

She had to sacrifice quite a few Sound, Iwa and rogue ninjas in the process, but even though she had ultimately been responsible for their deaths her main priority was returning home.

With only two shinobi left, one of which was clearly exhausted she orchestrated a final takedown.

She was a little too close to Iwa for her comfort, probably under two days run from the hidden village, but she was reasonably confident in her plan to escape before any patrols reached her.

Then she would run straight home, making her just under a week late of the original deadline, so not too bad considering she'd just spent the last month running for her life.

She had been considering sending a summons for a while, but there was no guarantee they wouldn't get intercepted and then it would have been just wasted chakra. _'With only two pursuers left, I could probably sneak a summon pass them to warn the Hokage of my delay.'_

Shaking her head she decided to wait at least until they reached a more covered area. Her raccoons would have more chances of success if they had trees to hide amongst rather than the open rocky fields of the Earth country.

Her strategy wasn't particularly fancy. She found a reasonably sheltered location in a valley, set up a few traps and waited for her opponents to walk into her setup.

She was technically not supposed to use any family jutsu, but her patience had worn thin over the last month of running across the countries and she reasoned with herself that it would be fine as long as neither opponent survived and no witnesses were present.

As her opponents dodged the first few traps they became overconfident, throw in a broken trap that was calculated to land a minor cut on her own body, it leads her opponents straight into her range.

With a single handsign and two well-placed kunai, her opponents crumple to the ground.

' _Finally, I can head home.'_ She checked over the bodies of the two rain shinobi and found the body scrolls most shinobi carried on missions. _'Ah, thank Kami for protocols.'_

Sealing them up she stuffed the scrolls carelessly into her bag, which at the start of her adventure had only necessities and now had extra medical supplies, body scrolls, missives she'd intercepted, and a few other random items.

She then proceeded to make a straight line towards Grass and just beyond it the comforting familiar forests of the Fire country.

But of course, nothing could be that simple on a mission. With her senses spread she quickly identified a squad of what was likely an Iwa patrol heading her way.

' _I can't risk killing them and having them complain that Konoha was attacking them. So, I need to be utterly unremarkable, leave them in the dust and take_ another _detour before heading home.'_ Pulling her hood to hide her features she prepared herself for the conflict, her hands grasping at the stolen weapons she had acquired. _'I'm so done with this mission.'_

The open gates of Konoha would be a welcome sight.

* * *

 **/AN\**

 **Replying to comments:**

 **Made from broken hearts**

Awww! Sorry (not sorry) ;P It makes me happy to hear you're enjoying it so much! Happy New Year for you too!

 **micaylah**

Aaaw! I get that as I often do the same :) It means a lot to me that you have commented as it always makes my day to hear people say it. Hope you continue to enjoy the story! :D


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